Direct drive options for electric propulsion systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hamley, John A.

1995-01-01

Power processing units (PPU's) in an electric propulsion system provide many challenging integration issues. The PPU must provide power to the electric thruster while maintaining compatibility with all of the spacecraft power and data systems. Inefficiencies in the power processor produce heat, which must be radiated to the environment in order to ensure reliable operation. Although PPU efficiencies are generally greater than 0.9, heat loads are often substantial. This heat must be rejected by thermal control systems which generally have specific masses of 15-30 kg/kW. PPU's also represent a large fraction of the electric propulsion system dry mass. Simplification or elimination of power processing in a propulsion system would reduce the electric propulsion system specific mass and improve the overall reliability and performance. A direct drive system would eliminate all or some of the power supplies required to operate a thruster by directly connecting the various thruster loads to the solar array. The development of concentrator solar arrays has enabled power bus voltages in excess of 300 V which is high enough for direct drive applications for Hall thrusters such as the Stationary Plasma Thruster (SPT). The option of solar array direct drive for SPT's is explored to provide a comparison between conventional and direct drive system mass.

Integration Tests of the 4 kW-Class High Voltage Hall Accelerator Power Processing Unit with the HiVHAc and the SPT-140 Hall Effect Thrusters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kamhawi, Hani; Pinero, Luis; Haag, Thomas; Huang, Wensheng; Ahern, Drew; Liang, Ray; Shilo, Vlad

2016-01-01

NASA's Science Mission Directorate is sponsoring the development of a 4 kW-class Hall propulsion system for implementation in NASA science and exploration missions. The main components of the system include the High Voltage Hall Accelerator (HiVHAc), an engineering model power processing unit (PPU) developed by Colorado Power Electronics, and a xenon flow control module (XFCM) developed by VACCO Industries. NASA Glenn Research Center is performing integrated tests of the Hall thruster propulsion system. This paper presents results from integrated tests of the PPU and XFCM with the HiVHAc engineering development thruster and a SPT-140 thruster provided by Space System Loral. The results presented in this paper demonstrate thruster discharge initiation along with open-loop and closed-loop control of the discharge current with anode flow for both the HiVHAc and the SPT-140 thrusters. Integrated tests with the SPT-140 thruster indicated that the PPU was able to repeatedly initiate the thruster's discharge, achieve steady state operation, and successfully throttle the thruster between 1.5 and 4.5 kW. The measured SPT-140 performance was identical to levels reported by Space Systems Loral.

Minapolitan region development analysis at Penajam Paser Utara using blue economy concept

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mawarsari, P. M.; Dewanti, A. N.; Nurrahman, F.

2017-06-01

Penajam Paser Utara (PPU) Region in East Kalimantan was assigned as one of Minapolitan area in Indonesia focusing on aquaculture based on Indonesia Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Decision Number 35 in 2013. Unfortunately, it is shown from PPU region statistics data that decreasing fisheries production in PPU region was occur especially for land fisheries from 2013 until 2015. The aim of this study is to formulate development strategies of Minapolitan in PPU Region by the Blue Economy concept. Several variables such as fisheries and aquaculture aspects, processing and marketing, incomes and workers, also sustainability and economic paradigm is evaluated in this study. Firstly it needs to identify the potential of character and problem by reviewing Minapolitan area in PPU Region with descriptive comparative analysis. Secondly, the fruitfulness of Minapolitan activity in PPU Region impact factors was identified by using internal and external factor (IFAS and EFAS) analysis. Then some of strategic considerations was formulated by using the successful development indicator in Minapolitan area that associate to the Blue Economy concept with SWOT analysis. The result of IFAS analysis show the highest score of strength that is production and commodity productivity. Contrarily, the income level factor is become the highest score at weakness. Then, the EFAS analysis declare that marketing system is the highest factor in opportunity. The position of SWOT quadrant indicate that the Minapolitan area of PPU region is in quadrant I /or first quadrant which means progressive. Therefore, the Minapolitan in PPU have a great chance to increase the cultivation optimally. The results of SWOT matrix is to increase its product and productivity by upgrading the quality and quantity production facilities, raising the control of production activites and also increasing the supervision of processing business with sustainable management business principle.

Can Pornography be Addictive? An fMRI Study of Men Seeking Treatment for Problematic Pornography Use.

PubMed

Gola, Mateusz; Wordecha, Małgorzata; Sescousse, Guillaume; Lew-Starowicz, Michał; Kossowski, Bartosz; Wypych, Marek; Makeig, Scott; Potenza, Marc N; Marchewka, Artur

2017-09-01

Pornography consumption is highly prevalent, particularly among young adult males. For some individuals, problematic pornography use (PPU) is a reason for seeking treatment. Despite the pervasiveness of pornography, PPU appears under-investigated, including with respect to the underlying neural mechanisms. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined ventral striatal responses to erotic and monetary stimuli, disentangling cue-related 'wanting' from reward-related 'liking' among 28 heterosexual males seeking treatment for PPU and 24 heterosexual males without PPU. Subjects engaged in an incentive delay task in the scanner, in which they received erotic or monetary rewards preceded by predictive cues. Blood-oxygen-level-dependent responses to erotic and monetary cues were analyzed and examined with respect to self-reported data on sexual activity collected over the 2 preceding months. Men with and without PPU differed in their striatal responses to cues predicting erotic pictures but not in their responses to erotic pictures. PPU subjects when compared with control subjects showed increased activation of ventral striatum specifically for cues predicting erotic pictures but not for cues predicting monetary gains. Relative sensitivity to cues predicting erotic pictures vs monetary gains was significantly related to the increased behavioral motivation to view erotic images (suggestive of higher 'wanting'), severity of PPU, amount of pornography use per week, and number of weekly masturbations. Our findings suggest that, similar to what is observed in substance and gambling addictions, the neural and behavioral mechanisms associated with the anticipatory processing of cues specifically predicting erotic rewards relate importantly to clinically relevant features of PPU. These findings suggest that PPU may represent a behavioral addiction and that interventions helpful in targeting behavioral and substance addictions warrant consideration for adaptation and use in helping men with PPU.

Rocket Propulsion 21 Steering Committee Meeting (RP21) NASA In-Space Propulsion Update

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klem, Mark

2015-01-01

In-house Support of NEXT-C Contract Status Thruster NEXT Long Duration Test post-test destructive evaluation in progress Findings will be used to verify service life models identify potential design improvements Cathode heater fabrication initiated for cyclic life testing Thruster operating algorithm definition verification initiated to provide operating procedures for mission users High voltage propellant isolator life test voluntarily terminated after successfully operating 51,200 h Power processor unit (PPU) Replaced all problematic stacked multilayer ceramic dual inline pin capacitors within PPU Test bed Rebuilt installed discharge power supply primary power board Completed full functional performance characterization Final test report in progress Transferred PPU Testbed to contractor to support prototype design effort.

Simplified power processing for ion-thruster subsystems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wessel, F. J.; Hancock, D. J.

1983-01-01

A design for a greatly simplified power-processing unit (SPPU) for the 8-cm diameter mercury-ion-thruster subsystem is discussed. This SPPU design will provide a tenfold reduction in parts count, a decrease in system mass and cost, and an increase in system reliability compared to the existing power-processing unit (PPU) used in the Hughes/NASA Lewis Research Center Ion Auxiliary Propulsion Subsystem. The simplifications achieved in this design will greatly increase the attractiveness of ion propulsion in near-term and future spacecraft propulsion applications. A description of a typical ion-thruster subsystem is given. An overview of the thruster/power-processor interface requirements is given. Simplified thruster power processing is discussed.

CELLFS: TAKING THE "DMA" OUT OF CELL PROGRAMMING

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

IONKOV, LATCHESAR A.; MIRTCHOVSKI, ANDREY A.; NYRHINEN, AKI M.

In this paper we present a new programming model for the Cell BE architecture of scalar multiprocessors. They call this programming model CellFS. CellFS aims at simplifying the task of managing I/O between the local store of the processing units and main memory. The CellFS support library provides the means for transferring data via simple file I/O operations between the PPU and the SPU.

Long-Term Reliability of a Hard-Switched Boost Power Processing Unit Utilizing SiC Power MOSFETs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ikpe, Stanley A.; Lauenstein, Jean-Marie; Carr, Gregory A.; Hunter, Don; Ludwig, Lawrence L.; Wood, William; Iannello, Christopher J.; Del Castillo, Linda Y.; Fitzpatrick, Fred D.; Mojarradi, Mohammad M.;

Postoperative Morbidity and Mortality of Perforated Peptic Ulcer: Retrospective Cohort Study of Risk Factors among Black Africans in Côte d'Ivoire.

PubMed

Gona, Soro Kountele; Alassan, Mahassadi Kouamé; Marcellin, Koffi Gnangoran; Henriette, Kissi Ya; Adama, Coulibaly; Toussaint, Assohoun; Manuela, Ehua Adjoba; Sylvain, Seu Gagon; Anthony, Afum-Adjei Awuah; Francis, Ehua Somian

2016-01-01

Introduction. Surgical treatment of perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) is a challenge for surgeons in Africa. Aim. To determine risk factors of postoperative complications or mortality among black Ivoirian patients with PPU. Methods. All 161 patients (median age = 34 years, 90.7 male) operated on for PPU in the visceral and general surgery unit were enrolled in a retrospective cohort study. Variables were studied with Kaplan Meier and Cox proportional hazard models. Results. Among 161 patients operated on for PPU, 36 (27.5%) experienced complications and 31 (19.3%) died. Follow-up results were the incidence of complications and mortality of 6.4 (95% CI: 4.9-8.0) per 100 person-days and 3.0 (95% CI: 1.9-4.0) per 100 person-days for incidence of mortality. In multivariate analysis, risk factors of postoperative complications or mortality were comorbidities (HR = 2.1, P = 0.03), tachycardia (pulse rate > 100/minutes) (HR = 2.4, P = 0.02), purulent intra-abdominal fluid collection (HR = 2.1, P = 0.04), hyponatremia (median value ≤ 134 mEq/L) (HR = 2.3, P = 0.01), delayed time of hospital admission > 72 hours (HR = 2.6, P < 0.0001), and delayed time of surgical intervention between 24 and 48 hours (HR = 3.8, P < 0.0001). Conclusion. The delayed hospital admission or surgical intervention and hyponatremia may be considered as additional risk of postoperative complications or mortality in Black African patients with PPU.

First principles pulse pile-up balance equation and fast deterministic solution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sabbatucci, Lorenzo; Fernández, Jorge E.

2017-08-01

Pulse pile-up (PPU) is an always present effect which introduces a distortion into the spectrum measured with radiation detectors and that worsen with the increasing emission rate of the radiation source. It is fully ascribable to the pulse handling circuitry of the detector and it is not comprised in the detector response function which is well explained by a physical model. The PPU changes both the number and the height of the recorded pulses, which are related, respectively, with the number of detected particles and their energy. In the present work, it is derived a first principles balance equation for second order PPU to obtain a post-processing correction to apply to X-ray measurements. The balance equation is solved for the particular case of rectangular pulse shape using a deterministic iterative procedure for which it will be shown the convergence. The proposed method, deterministic rectangular PPU (DRPPU), requires minimum amount of information and, as example, it is applied to a solid state Si detector with active or off-line PPU suppression circuitry. A comparison shows that the results obtained with this fast and simple approach are comparable to those from the more sophisticated procedure using precise detector pulse shapes.

Incidence and Short-term Mortality From Perforated Peptic Ulcer in Korea: A Population-Based Study

PubMed Central

Bae, SeungJin; Shim, Ki-Nam; Kim, Nayoung; Kang, Jung Mook; Kim, Dong-Sook; Kim, Kyoung-Min; Cho, Yu Kyung; Jung, Sung Woo

2012-01-01

Background Perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) is associated with serious health and economic outcomes. However, few studies have estimated the incidence and health outcomes of PPU using a nationally representative sample in Asia. We estimated age- and sex-specific incidence and short-term mortality from PPU among Koreans and investigated the risk factors for mortality associated with PPU development. Methods A retrospective population-based study was conducted from 2006 through 2007 using the Korean National Health Insurance claims database. A diagnostic algorithm was derived and validated to identify PPU patients, and PPU incidence rates and 30-day mortality rates were determined. Results From 2006 through 2007, the PPU incidence rate per 100 000 population was 4.4; incidence among men (7.53) was approximately 6 times that among women (1.24). Incidence significantly increased with advanced age, especially among women older than 50 years. Among 4258 PPU patients, 135 (3.15%) died within 30 days of the PPU event. The 30-day mortality rate increased with advanced age and reached almost 20% for patients older than 80 years. The 30-day mortality rate was 10% for women and 2% for men. Older age, being female, and higher comorbidity were independently associated with 30-day mortality rate among PPU patients in Korea. Conclusions Special attention should be paid to elderly women with high comorbidity who develop PPU. PMID:22955110

Development of High-Power Hall Thruster Power Processing Units at NASA GRC

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pinero, Luis R.; Bozak, Karin E.; Santiago, Walter; Scheidegger, Robert J.; Birchenough, Arthur G.

2015-01-01

NASA GRC successfully designed, built and tested four different power processor concepts for high power Hall thrusters. Each design satisfies unique goals including the evaluation of a novel silicon carbide semiconductor technology, validation of innovative circuits to overcome the problems with high input voltage converter design, development of a direct-drive unit to demonstrate potential benefits, or simply identification of lessonslearned from the development of a PPU using a conventional design approach. Any of these designs could be developed further to satisfy NASA's needs for high power electric propulsion in the near future.

Silicon-Carbide Power MOSFET Performance in High Efficiency Boost Power Processing Unit for Extreme Environments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ikpe, Stanley A.; Lauenstein, Jean-Marie; Carr, Gregory A.; Hunter, Don; Ludwig, Lawrence L.; Wood, William; Del Castillo, Linda Y.; Fitzpatrick, Fred; Chen, Yuan

2016-01-01

Silicon-Carbide device technology has generated much interest in recent years. With superior thermal performance, power ratings and potential switching frequencies over its Silicon counterpart, Silicon-Carbide offers a greater possibility for high powered switching applications in extreme environment. In particular, Silicon-Carbide Metal-Oxide- Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistors' (MOSFETs) maturing process technology has produced a plethora of commercially available power dense, low on-state resistance devices capable of switching at high frequencies. A novel hard-switched power processing unit (PPU) is implemented utilizing Silicon-Carbide power devices. Accelerated life data is captured and assessed in conjunction with a damage accumulation model of gate oxide and drain-source junction lifetime to evaluate potential system performance at high temperature environments.

Clinical characteristics of peptic ulcer perforation in Korea.

PubMed

Yang, Young Joo; Bang, Chang Seok; Shin, Suk Pyo; Park, Tae Young; Suk, Ki Tae; Baik, Gwang Ho; Kim, Dong Joon

2017-04-14

To elucidate the epidemiological characteristics and associated risk factors of perforated peptic ulcer (PPU). We retrospectively reviewed medical records of patients who were diagnosed with benign PPU from 2010 through 2015 at 6 Hallym university-affiliated hospitals. A total of 396 patients were identified with postoperative complication rate of 9.1% and mortality rate of 0.8%. Among 174 (43.9%) patients who were examined for Helicobacter pylori ( H. pylori ) infection, 78 (44.8%) patients were positive for H. pylori infection, 21 (12.1%) were on non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) therapy, and 80 (46%) patients were neither infected of H. pylori nor treated by any kinds of NSAIDs. Multivariate analysis indicated that older age (OR = 1.09, 95%CI: 1.04-1.16) and comorbidity (OR = 4.11, 95%CI: 1.03-16.48) were risk factors for NSAID-associated PPU compared with non- H. pylori , non-NSAID associated PPU and older age (OR = 1.04, 95%CI: 1.02-1.07) and alcohol consumption (OR = 2.08, 95%CI: 1.05-4.13) were risk factors for non- H. pylori , non-NSAID associated PPU compared with solely H. pylori positive PPU. Elderly patients with comorbidities are associated with NSAIDs-associated PPU. Non- H. pylori , non-NSAID peptic ulcer is important etiology of PPU and alcohol consumption is associated risk factor.

Clinical characteristics of peptic ulcer perforation in Korea

PubMed Central

Yang, Young Joo; Bang, Chang Seok; Shin, Suk Pyo; Park, Tae Young; Suk, Ki Tae; Baik, Gwang Ho; Kim, Dong Joon

2017-01-01

AIM To elucidate the epidemiological characteristics and associated risk factors of perforated peptic ulcer (PPU). METHODS We retrospectively reviewed medical records of patients who were diagnosed with benign PPU from 2010 through 2015 at 6 Hallym university-affiliated hospitals. RESULTS A total of 396 patients were identified with postoperative complication rate of 9.1% and mortality rate of 0.8%. Among 174 (43.9%) patients who were examined for Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection, 78 (44.8%) patients were positive for H. pylori infection, 21 (12.1%) were on non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) therapy, and 80 (46%) patients were neither infected of H. pylori nor treated by any kinds of NSAIDs. Multivariate analysis indicated that older age (OR = 1.09, 95%CI: 1.04-1.16) and comorbidity (OR = 4.11, 95%CI: 1.03-16.48) were risk factors for NSAID-associated PPU compared with non-H. pylori, non-NSAID associated PPU and older age (OR = 1.04, 95%CI: 1.02-1.07) and alcohol consumption (OR = 2.08, 95%CI: 1.05-4.13) were risk factors for non-H. pylori, non-NSAID associated PPU compared with solely H. pylori positive PPU. CONCLUSION Elderly patients with comorbidities are associated with NSAIDs-associated PPU. Non-H. pylori, non-NSAID peptic ulcer is important etiology of PPU and alcohol consumption is associated risk factor. PMID:28465641

Low-Power Operation and Plasma Characterization of a Qualification Model SPT-140 Hall Thruster for NASA Science Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Garner, Charles E.; Jorns, Benjamin A.; van Derventer, Steven; Hofer, Richard R.; Rickard, Ryan; Liang, Raymond; Delgado, Jorge

2015-01-01

Hall thruster systems based on commercial product lines can potentially lead to lower cost electric propulsion (EP) systems for deep space science missions. A 4.5-kW SPT-140 Hall thruster presently under qualification testing by SSL leverages the substantial heritage of the SPT-100 being flown on Russian and US commercial satellites. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is exploring the use of commercial EP systems, including the SPT-140, for deep space science missions, and initiated a program to evaluate the SPT-140 in the areas of low power operation and thruster operating life. A qualification model SPT-140 designated QM002 was evaluated for operation and plasma properties along channel centerline, from 4.5 kW to 0.8 kW. Additional testing was performed on a development model SPT-140 designated DM4 to evaluate operation with a Moog proportional flow control valve (PFCV). The PFCV was commanded by an SSL engineering model PPU-140 Power Processing Unit (PPU). Performance measurements on QM002 at 0.8 kW discharge power were 50 mN of thrust at a total specific impulse of 1250 s, a total thruster efficiency of 0.38, and discharge current oscillations of under 3% of the mean current. Steady-state operation at 0.8 kW was demonstrated during a 27 h firing. The SPT-140 DM4 was operated in closed-loop control of the discharge current with the PFCV and PPU over discharge power levels of 0.8-4.5 kW. QM002 and DM4 test data indicate that the SPT-140 design is a viable candidate for NASA missions requiring power throttling down to low thruster input power.

Efficient C1-continuous phase-potential upwind (C1-PPU) schemes for coupled multiphase flow and transport with gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Jiamin; Younis, Rami M.

2017-10-01

In the presence of counter-current flow, nonlinear convergence problems may arise in implicit time-stepping when the popular phase-potential upwinding (PPU) scheme is used. The PPU numerical flux is non-differentiable across the co-current/counter-current flow regimes. This may lead to cycles or divergence in the Newton iterations. Recently proposed methods address improved smoothness of the numerical flux. The objective of this work is to devise and analyze an alternative numerical flux scheme called C1-PPU that, in addition to improving smoothness with respect to saturations and phase potentials, also improves the level of scalar nonlinearity and accuracy. C1-PPU involves a novel use of the flux limiter concept from the context of high-resolution methods, and allows a smooth variation between the co-current/counter-current flow regimes. The scheme is general and applies to fully coupled flow and transport formulations with an arbitrary number of phases. We analyze the consistency property of the C1-PPU scheme, and derive saturation and pressure estimates, which are used to prove the solution existence. Several numerical examples for two- and three-phase flows in heterogeneous and multi-dimensional reservoirs are presented. The proposed scheme is compared to the conventional PPU and the recently proposed Hybrid Upwinding schemes. We investigate three properties of these numerical fluxes: smoothness, nonlinearity, and accuracy. The results indicate that in addition to smoothness, nonlinearity may also be critical for convergence behavior and thus needs to be considered in the design of an efficient numerical flux scheme. Moreover, the numerical examples show that the C1-PPU scheme exhibits superior convergence properties for large time steps compared to the other alternatives.

Paroxetine Treatment of Problematic Pornography Use: A Case Series

PubMed Central

Gola, Mateusz; Potenza, Marc N.

2016-01-01

Background How best to conceptualize problematic pornography use (PPU) and intervene most effectively remain debated, with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) and addiction frameworks. We investigated the efficacy of the serotonin-reuptake inhibitor paroxetine in combination with cognitive-behavioral therapy in the treatment of problematic pornography use (PPU). Case presentation Three heterosexual males with PPU were treated with cognitive-behavioral therapy and paroxetine. Frequency of pornography use, other sexual behaviors, and anxiety were assessed during treatment. Discussion Paroxetine treatment, although seemingly initially effective in reducing pornography use and anxiety, appeared related to new compulsive sexual behaviors after 3 months. Conclusions Paroxetine may hold promise for short-term reduction of PPU and related anxiety, but new potentially distressing sexual behaviors may emerge. The cases suggest that PPU may arise from multiple domains. We propose an explanation of the effects based on recent neuroscientific research on sexual behaviors and alcohol use. PMID:27440474

Paroxetine Treatment of Problematic Pornography Use: A Case Series.

PubMed

Gola, Mateusz; Potenza, Marc N

2016-09-01

Background How best to conceptualize problematic pornography use (PPU) and intervene most effectively remain debated, with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and addiction frameworks. We investigated the efficacy of the serotonin-reuptake inhibitor paroxetine in combination with cognitive-behavioral therapy in the treatment of problematic pornography use (PPU). Case presentation Three heterosexual males with PPU were treated with cognitive-behavioral therapy and paroxetine. Frequency of pornography use, other sexual behaviors, and anxiety were assessed during treatment. Discussion Paroxetine treatment, although seemingly initially effective in reducing pornography use and anxiety, appeared related to new compulsive sexual behaviors after 3 months. Conclusions Paroxetine may hold promise for short-term reduction of PPU and related anxiety, but new potentially distressing sexual behaviors may emerge. The cases suggest that PPU may arise from multiple domains. We propose an explanation of the effects based on recent neuroscientific research on sexual behaviors and alcohol use.

The Impact of Harness Impedance on Hall Thruster Discharge Oscillations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pinero, Luis R.

2017-01-01

Hall thrusters exhibit characteristic discharge voltage and current oscillations during steady-state operation. The lower frequency breathing-mode current oscillations are inherent to each thruster and could impact thruster operation and power processing unit (PPU) design. The design of the discharge output filter, in particular, the output capacitor is important because it supplies the high peak current oscillations that the thruster demands. However, space-rated, high-voltage capacitors are not readily available and can have significant mass and volume. So, it is important for a PPU designer to know what is the minimum amount of capacitance required to operate a thruster. Through Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis modeling and electrical measurements on the Hall Effect Rocket with Magnetic Shielding thruster, it was shown that the harness impedance between the power supply and the thruster is the main contributor towards generating voltage ripple at the thruster. Also, increasing the size of the discharge filter capacitor, as previously implemented during thruster tests, does not reduce the voltage oscillations. The electrical characteristics of the electrical harness between the discharge supply and the thruster is crucial to system performance and could have a negative impact on performance, life and operation.

Heavy Drinkers and the Potential Impact of Minimum Unit Pricing-No Single or Simple Effect?

PubMed

Gill, J; Black, H; Rush, R; O'May, F; Chick, J

2017-11-01

To explore the potential impact of a minimum unit price (MUP: 50 pence per UK unit) on the alcohol consumption of ill Scottish heavy drinkers. Participants were 639 patients attending alcohol treatment services or admitted to hospital with an alcohol-related condition. From their reported expenditure on alcohol in their index week, and assuming this remained unchanged, we estimated the impact of a MUP (50 ppu) on future consumption. (Around 15% purchased from both the more expensive on-sale outlets (hotels, pubs, bars) and from off-sales (shops and supermarkets). For them we estimated the change in consumption that might follow MUP if (i) they continued this proportion of 'on-sales' purchasing or (ii) their reported expenditure was moved entirely to off-sale purchasing (to maintain consumption levels)). Around 69% of drinkers purchased exclusively off-sale alcohol at <50 ppu. Their drinking, post MUP, may reduce by a mean of 33%. For this group, from a population of very heavy, ill consumers, we were unable to show a differential effect across multiple deprivation quintiles. For other drinkers there might be no reduction, especially if after MUP there were many products priced close to 50 ppu. Moving away from on-sales purchases could support, for some, an increase in consumption. While a proportion of our harmed, heavy drinkers might be able to mitigate the impact of MUP by changing purchasing habits, the majority are predicted to reduce purchasing. This analysis, focusing specifically on harmed drinkers, adds a unique dimension to the evidence base informing current pricing policy. From drink purchasing data of heavy drinkers, we estimated the impact of legislating £0.50 minimum unit price. Over two thirds of drinkers, representing all multiple deprivation quintiles, were predicted to decrease alcohol purchasing; remainder, hypothetically, could maintain consumption. Our data address an important gap within the evidence base informing policy. © The Author 2017. Medical Council on Alcohol and Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

Laparoscopic Repair for Perforated Peptic Ulcer in Children.

PubMed

Reusens, Helena; Dassonville, Martine; Steyaert, Henri

2017-06-01

Introduction  A perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) is a rare but major complication of gastroduodenal peptic ulcer disease. Literature is scarce on this subject in the pediatric population and most articles describe a surgical treatment by laparotomy. We aim to review all our cases of pediatric PPU treated over the past 16 years and compare these to literature to deduce potential benefits and disadvantages regarding laparoscopic treatment of PPU in children. Materials and Methods  A retrospective study of all cases of PPU treated at the Lenval Hospital in Nice (France) and the Queen Fabiola University Hospital for Children in Brussels (Belgium) between 1998 and 2015 was performed. Results  A total of five children were treated for PPU (2 females). The average age was 11 years (range, 3-17). All of them were surgically treated with laparoscopic simple suture of the perforation and placement of an omental patch. There were no mortalities, no conversions, and no extra-abdominal complications or wound dehiscences. Mean operating time was 78.6 minutes (range, 70-115 minutes). Mean duration of intravenous treatment was 6 days (range, 4-12 days). One reintervention was performed for abdominal infection. In one patient, an abdominal drain was left in place for 2 days. The mean time before refeeding was 3.4 days (range, 3-4 days) and mean length of stay was 12 days (range, 7-30 days). Conclusion  Laparoscopic repair is safe and feasible for PPU and should be the gold standard for treatment of PPU in children. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Prehospital triage of patients diagnosed with perforated peptic ulcer or peptic ulcer bleeding: an observational study of patients calling 1-1-2.

PubMed

Bonnesen, Kasper; Friesgaard, Kristian D; Boetker, Morten T; Nikolajsen, Lone

2018-04-05

Triage systems are used in emergency medical services to systematically prioritize prehospital resources according to individual patient conditions. Previous studies have shown cases of preventable deaths in emergency medical services even when triage systems are used, indicating a potential undertriage among some conditions. The aim of this study was to investigate the triage level among patients diagnosed with perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) or peptic ulcer bleeding (PUB). In a three-year period in Central Denmark Region, all patients hospitalized within 24 h after a 1-1-2 emergency call and who subsequently received either a PPU or a PUB (hereinafter combined and referred to as PPU/PUB) or a First Hour Quintet (FHQ: respiratory failure, stroke, trauma, cardiac chest pain, and cardiac arrest) diagnosis were investigated. A modified Poisson regression was used to estimate the relative risk of receiving the highest and lowest prehospital response level. Also, a linear regression analysis was used to estimate the relative risk of 30-day mortality. Of 8658 evaluated patients, 263 were diagnosed with PPU/PUB. After adjusting for relevant confounding variables, patients diagnosed with PPU/PUB were less likely to receive ambulance transportation compared to patients diagnosed with stroke, RR = 1.41 (CI: 1.28-1.56); trauma, RR = 1.28 (CI: 1.15-1.42); cardiac chest pain, RR = 1.47 (CI: 1.33-1.62); and cardiac arrest, RR = 1.44 (CI: 1.31-1.42). Among patients diagnosed with PPU/PUB, 6.5% (CI: 3.3-9.7) did not receive ambulance transportation. The proportion of patients not receiving ambulance transportation was higher among patients diagnosed with PPU/PUB compared to patients diagnosed with an FHQ diagnosis. The 30-day mortality rate among patients diagnosed with PPU/PUB was 7.8% (CI: 4.2-11.1). This was lower than the 30-day mortality rate among patients diagnosed with respiratory failure (P = 0.010), stroke (P = 0.001), and cardiac arrest (P < 0.001), but comparable to the 30-day mortality among patients diagnosed with cardiac chest pain (P = 0.080) and trauma (P = 0.281). Among patients calling 1-1-2, fewer patients diagnosed with PPU/PUB received ambulance transportation than patients diagnosed with FHQ diagnoses, despite a high mortality among patients diagnosed with PPU/PUB.

Perforated peptic ulcer - an update

PubMed Central

Chung, Kin Tong; Shelat, Vishalkumar G

2017-01-01

Peptic ulcer disease (PUD) affects 4 million people worldwide annually. The incidence of PUD has been estimated at around 1.5% to 3%. Perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) is a serious complication of PUD and patients with PPU often present with acute abdomen that carries high risk for morbidity and mortality. The lifetime prevalence of perforation in patients with PUD is about 5%. PPU carries a mortality ranging from 1.3% to 20%. Thirty-day mortality rate reaching 20% and 90-d mortality rate of up to 30% have been reported. In this review we have summarized the current evidence on PPU to update readers. This literature review includes the most updated information such as common causes, clinical features, diagnostic methods, non-operative and operative management, post-operative complications and different scoring systems of PPU. With the advancement of medical technology, PUD can now be treated with medications instead of elective surgery. The classic triad of sudden onset of abdominal pain, tachycardia and abdominal rigidity is the hallmark of PPU. Erect chest radiograph may miss 15% of cases with air under the diaphragm in patients with bowel perforation. Early diagnosis, prompt resuscitation and urgent surgical intervention are essential to improve outcomes. Exploratory laparotomy and omental patch repair remains the gold standard. Laparoscopic surgery should be considered when expertise is available. Gastrectomy is recommended in patients with large or malignant ulcer. PMID:28138363

Perforated peptic ulcer - an update.

PubMed

Chung, Kin Tong; Shelat, Vishalkumar G

2017-01-27

Peptic ulcer disease (PUD) affects 4 million people worldwide annually. The incidence of PUD has been estimated at around 1.5% to 3%. Perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) is a serious complication of PUD and patients with PPU often present with acute abdomen that carries high risk for morbidity and mortality. The lifetime prevalence of perforation in patients with PUD is about 5%. PPU carries a mortality ranging from 1.3% to 20%. Thirty-day mortality rate reaching 20% and 90-d mortality rate of up to 30% have been reported. In this review we have summarized the current evidence on PPU to update readers. This literature review includes the most updated information such as common causes, clinical features, diagnostic methods, non-operative and operative management, post-operative complications and different scoring systems of PPU. With the advancement of medical technology, PUD can now be treated with medications instead of elective surgery. The classic triad of sudden onset of abdominal pain, tachycardia and abdominal rigidity is the hallmark of PPU. Erect chest radiograph may miss 15% of cases with air under the diaphragm in patients with bowel perforation. Early diagnosis, prompt resuscitation and urgent surgical intervention are essential to improve outcomes. Exploratory laparotomy and omental patch repair remains the gold standard. Laparoscopic surgery should be considered when expertise is available. Gastrectomy is recommended in patients with large or malignant ulcer.

13kW Advanced Electric Propulsion Flight System Development and Qualification

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jackson, Jerry; Allen, May; Myers, Roger; Soendker, Erich; Welander, Benjamin; Tolentino, Artie; Hablitzel, Sam; Yeatts, Chyrl; Xu, Steven; Sheehan, Chris;

[Perforated peptic ulcer closure: laparoscopic or open?

PubMed

Alekberzade, A V; Krylov, N N; Rustamov, E A; Badalov, D A; Popovtsev, M A

To compare laparoscopic and open closure of perforated peptic ulcer (PPU). The study included 153 patients who underwent PPU suturing. 78 patients underwent laparoscopic closure (laparoscopic group) and open suturing via upper midline laparotomy was performed in 75 cases (open group). Surgery time, postoperative pain severity, time of analgesics intake, postoperative complications, hospital-stay and and cosmetic effect were compared. Laparoscopic PPU closure may be effective and accessible in experienced endoscopic surgeon. It significantly reduces postoperative pain severity, need for analgesics, incidence of postoperative complications and provides excellent cosmetic effect. However, there is greater time of surgery compared with open intervention. There were no significant differences in hspital-stay between groups. Laparoscopic PPU suturing can be considered a good alternative to open surgery. Further researches are needed for standardization, assessment of safety, real advantages and disadvantages of laparoscopic technique.

Perforated peptic ulcer

PubMed Central

Søreide, Kjetil; Thorsen, Kenneth; Harrison, Ewen M.; Bingener, Juliane; Møller, Morten H.; Ohene-Yeboah, Michael; Søreide, Jon Arne

2015-01-01

Summary Perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) is a frequent emergency condition worldwide with associated mortality up to 30%. A paucity of studies on PPU limits the knowledge base for clinical decision-making, but a few randomised trials are available. While Helicobacter pylori and use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are frequent causes of PPU, demographic differences in age, gender, perforation location and aetiology exist between countries, as do mortality rates. Clinical prediction rules are used, but accuracy varies with study population. Early surgery, either by laparoscopic or open repair, and proper sepsis management are essential for good outcome. Selected patients can perhaps be managed non-operatively or with novel endoscopic approaches, but validation in trials is needed. Quality of care, sepsis care-bundles and postoperative monitoring need further evaluation. Adequate trials with low risk of bias are urgently needed for better evidence. Here we summarize the evidence for PPU management and identify directions for future clinical research. PMID:26460663

Perforated peptic ulcer in an infant.

PubMed

Feng, C Y; Hsu, W M; Chen, Y

2001-02-01

We describe a case of perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) in a 9-month-old boy. Abdominal distension was the first clinical sign of PPU. Before he developed abdominal distension, the patient had suffered from an upper respiratory tract infection with fever for about 2 weeks, which was treated intermittently with ibuprofen. A plain abdominal radiograph revealed pneumoperitoneum with a football sign. At laparotomy, a 0.8-cm perforated hole was found over the prepyloric area. Simple closure with omental patching was performed after debridement of the perforation. Pathologic examination showed chronic peptic ulcer with Helicobacter pylori infection. The postoperative course and outcome were satisfactory. The stress of underlying disease, use of ibuprofen, blood type (A), and H. pylori infection might have contributed to the development of PPU in this patient. PPU in infancy is rare and has a high mortality rate; early recognition and prompt surgical intervention are key to successful management.

Impact of Drain Insertion After Perforated Peptic Ulcer Repair in a Japanese Nationwide Database Analysis.

PubMed

Okumura, K; Hida, K; Kunisawa, S; Nishigori, T; Hosogi, H; Sakai, Y; Imanaka, Y

2018-03-01

Many perforated peptic ulcers (PPUs) require surgical repair due to diffuse peritonitis. However, few studies have examined the clinical effects of postoperative drainage after PPU repair. This study aimed to investigate the drain insertion rates in patients who underwent PPU repair in Japan, and to clarify the impact of drain insertion on the postoperative clinical course. A retrospective nationwide cohort study was performed using administrative claims data of patients who had undergone PPU repair between 2010 and 2016. These patients were divided into two groups based on whether or not they had received a postoperative abdominal drain. Using propensity score matching, we compared the incidences of postoperative interventions for abdominal complications between both groups. A total of 4869 patients from 324 hospitals were analyzed. At the hospital level, drains were placed in all PPU repair patients in 229 (70.7%) hospitals. At the patient level, 4401 patients (90.4%) had drains inserted. The drain group was associated with a higher emergency admission rate, poorer preoperative shock status, longer anesthetic time, and a higher amount of intra-abdominal irrigation. In the propensity score-matched patients, the drain group had a significantly lower incidence of postoperative interventions than the no-drain group (1.9 vs. 5.6%; risk ratio = 0.35; 95% confidence interval 0.16-0.73; P = 0.003). Postoperative drainage was performed in the majority of patients who underwent PPU repair in Japan. Drainage following PPU repair may facilitate patient recovery by reducing the need for postoperative interventions.

Association between ulcer site and outcome in complicated peptic ulcer disease: a Danish nationwide cohort study.

PubMed

Lolle, Ida; Møller, Morten Hylander; Rosenstock, Steffen Jais

2016-10-01

Mortality rates in complicated peptic ulcer disease are high. This study aimed to examine the prognostic importance of ulcer site in patients with peptic ulcer bleeding (PUB) and perforated peptic ulcer (PPU). a nationwide cohort study with prospective and consecutive data collection. all patients treated for PUB and PPU at Danish hospitals between 2003 and 2014. demographic and clinical data reported to the Danish Clinical Registry of Emergency Surgery. 90- and 30-d mortality and re-intervention. the crude and adjusted association between ulcer site (gastric and duodenal) and the outcome measures of interest were assessed by binary logistic regression analysis. Some 20,059 patients with PUB and 4273 patients with PPU were included; 90-d mortality was 15.3% for PUB and 29.8% for PPU; 30-d mortality was 10.2% and 24.7%, respectively. Duodenal bleeding ulcer, as compared to gastric ulcer (GU), was associated with a significantly increased risk of all-cause mortality within 90 and 30 d, and with re-intervention: adjusted odds ratio (OR) 1.47 (95% confidence interval 1.30-1.67); p < 0.001, OR 1.60 (1.43-1.77); p < 0.001, and OR 1.86 (1.68-2.06); p < 0.001, respectively. There was no difference in outcomes between gastric and duodenal ulcers (DUs) in PPU patients: adjusted OR 0.99 (0.84-1.16); p = 0.698, OR 0.93 (0.78 to 1.10); p = 0.409, and OR 0.97 (0.80-1.19); p = 0.799, respectively. DU site is a significant predictor of death and re-intervention in patients with PUB, as compared to GU site. This does not seem to be the case for patients with PPU.

Structural and functional studies on urease from pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan).

PubMed

Balasubramanian, Anuradha; Durairajpandian, Vishnuprabu; Elumalai, Sagadevan; Mathivanan, Narayanasamy; Munirajan, Arasambattu Kannan; Ponnuraj, Karthe

2013-07-01

Urease is an enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of urea, forming ammonia and carbon dioxide, and is found in plants, microorganisms and invertebrates. Although plant and bacterial ureases are closely related at amino acid and at the structural level, the insecticidal activity is seen only in the plant ureases. In contrast, both plant and bacterial ureases exhibit antifungal activity. These two biological properties are independent of its ureolytic activity. However, till date the mechanism(s) behind the insecticidal and fungicidal activity of ureases are not clearly understood. Here we report the crystal structure of pigeon pea urease (PPU, Cajanus cajan) which is the second structure from the plant source. We have deduced the amino acid sequence of PPU and also report here studies on its stability, insecticidal and antifungal activity. PPU exhibits cellulase activity. Based on the structural analysis of PPU and docking studies with cellopentoase we propose a possible mechanism of antifungal activity of urease. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of risk factors for perforated peptic ulcer.

PubMed

Yamamoto, Kazuki; Takahashi, Osamu; Arioka, Hiroko; Kobayashi, Daiki

2018-02-15

The aim of this study was to evaluate the prediction factors for perforated peptic ulcer (PPU). At St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo, Japan, a case control study was performed between August 2004 and March 2016. All patients diagnosed with PPU were included. As control subjects, patients with age, sex and date of CT scan corresponding to those of the PPU subjects were included in the study at a proportion of 2 controls for every PPU subject. All data such as past medical histories, physical findings, and laboratory data were collected through chart reviews. Univariate analyses and multivariate analyses with logistic regression were conducted, and receiver operating characteristic curves (ROCs) were calculated to show validity. Sensitivity analyses were performed to confirm results using a stepwise method and conditional logistic regression. A total of 408 patients were included in this study; 136 were a group of patients with PPU, and 272 were a control group. Univariate analysis showed statistical significance in many categories. Four different models of multivariate analyses were conducted, and significant differences were found for muscular defense and a history of peptic ulcer disease (PUD) in all models. The conditional forced-entry analysis of muscular defense showed an odds ratio (OR) of 23.8 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 5.70-100.0), and the analysis of PUD history showed an OR of 6.40 (95% CI: 1.13-36.2). The sensitivity analysis showed consistent results, with an OR of 23.8-366.2 for muscular defense and an OR of 3.67-7.81 for PUD history. The area under the curve (AUC) of all models was high enough to confirm the results. However, anticoagulants, known risk factors for PUD, did not increase the risk for PPU in our study. The conditional forced-entry analysis of anticoagulant use showed an OR of 0.85 (95% CI: 0.03-22.3). The evaluation of prediction factors and development of a prediction rule for PPU may help our decision making in performing a CT scan for patients with acute abdominal pain.

Laparoscopic repair of perforated peptic ulcer: patch versus simple closure.

PubMed

Abd Ellatif, M E; Salama, A F; Elezaby, A F; El-Kaffas, H F; Hassan, A; Magdy, A; Abdallah, E; El-Morsy, G

2013-01-01

Laparoscopic correction of perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) has become an accepted way of management. Patch omentoplasty stayed for decades the main method of repair. The goal of the present study was to evaluate whether laparoscopic simple repair of PPU is as safe as patch omentoplasty. Since June 2005, 179 consecutive patients of PPU were treated by laparoscopic repair at our centers. We conducted a retrospective chart review in December 2012. Group I (patch group) included patients who were treated with standard patch omentoplasty. Group II (non-patch group) included patients who received simple repair without patch. From June 2007 to Dec. 2012, 179 consecutive patients of PPU who were treated by laparoscopic repair at our centers were enrolled in this multi-center retrospective study. 108 patients belong to patch group. While 71 patients were treated with laparoscopic simple repair. Operative time was significantly shorter in group II (non patch) (p = 0.01). No patient was converted to laparotomy. There was no difference in age, gender, ASA score, surgical risk (Boey's) score, and incidence of co-morbidities. Both groups were comparable in terms of hospital stay, time to resume oral intake, postoperative complications and surgical outcomes. Laparoscopic simple repair of PPU is a safe procedure compared with the traditional patch omentoplasty in presence of certain selection criteria. Copyright © 2013 Surgical Associates Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Description of the Prometheus Program Alternator/Thruster Integration Laboratory (ATIL)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baez, Anastacio N.; Birchenough, Arthur G.; Lebron-Velilla, Ramon C.; Gonzalez, Marcelo C.

2005-01-01

The Project Prometheus Alternator Electric Thruster Integration Laboratory's (ATIL) primary two objectives are to obtain test data to influence the power conversion and electric propulsion systems design, and to assist in developing the primary power quality specifications prior to system Preliminary Design Review (PDR). ATIL is being developed in stages or configurations of increasing fidelity and complexity in order to support the various phases of the Prometheus program. ATIL provides a timely insight of the electrical interactions between a representative Permanent Magnet Generator, its associated control schemes, realistic electric system loads, and an operating electric propulsion thruster. The ATIL main elements are an electrically driven 100 kWe Alternator Test Unit (ATU), an alternator controller using parasitic loads, and a thruster Power Processing Unit (PPU) breadboard. This paper describes the ATIL components, its development approach, preliminary integration test results, and current status.

Randomized clinical trial of laparoscopic versus open repair of the perforated peptic ulcer: the LAMA Trial.

PubMed

Bertleff, Mariëtta J O E; Halm, Jens A; Bemelman, Willem A; van der Ham, Arie C; van der Harst, Erwin; Oei, Hok I; Smulders, J F; Steyerberg, E W; Lange, Johan F

2009-07-01

Laparoscopic surgery has become popular during the last decade, mainly because it is associated with fewer postoperative complications than the conventional open approach. It remains unclear, however, if this benefit is observed after laparoscopic correction of perforated peptic ulcer (PPU). The goal of the present study was to evaluate whether laparoscopic closure of a PPU is as safe as conventional open correction. The study was based on a randomized controlled trial in which nine medical centers from the Netherlands participated. A total of 109 patients with symptoms of PPU and evidence of air under the diaphragm were scheduled to receive a PPU repair. After exclusion of 8 patients during the operation, outcomes were analyzed for laparotomy (n = 49) and for the laparoscopic procedure (n = 52). Operating time in the laparoscopy group was significantly longer than in the open group (75 min versus 50 min). Differences regarding postoperative dosage of opiates and the visual analog scale (VAS) for pain scoring system were in favor of the laparoscopic procedure. The VAS score on postoperative days 1, 3, and 7 was significant lower (P < 0.05) in the laparoscopic group. Complications were equally distributed. Hospital stay was also comparable: 6.5 days in the laparoscopic group versus 8.0 days in the open group (P = 0.235). Laparoscopic repair of PPU is a safe procedure compared with open repair. The results considering postoperative pain favor the laparoscopic procedure.

Ion Thruster Used to Propel the Deep Space 1 Spacecraft to Comet Encounters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sovey, James S.

2000-01-01

The NASA Solar Electric Propulsion Technology Applications Readiness (NSTAR) Project provided a xenon ion propulsion system to the Deep Space 1 (DS1) spacecraft to validate the propulsion system as well as perform primary propulsion for asteroid and comet encounters. The On-Board Propulsion Branch of the NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field developed engineering model versions of the 30-cm-diameter ion thruster and the 2.5-kW power processor unit (PPU). Glenn then transferred the thruster and PPU technologies to Hughes Electron Dynamics and managed the contract, which supplied two flight sets of thrusters and PPU s to the Deep Space 1 spacecraft and to a ground-based life verification test at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). In addition to managing the DS1 spacecraft development, JPL was responsible for the NSTAR Project management, thruster life tests, the feed system, diagnostics, and propulsion subsystem integration. The ion propulsion development team included NASA Glenn, JPL, Hughes Electronics, Moog Inc., and Spectrum Astro Inc. The overall NSTAR subsystem dry mass, including thruster, PPU, controller, cables, and the xenon storage and feed system, is 48 kg. The mass of the xenon stored onboard DS1 was about 81 kg, and the spacecraft wet mass was approximately 500 kg.The DS1 spacecraft was launched on October 24, 1998, and on July 29, 1999, it flew within 16 miles of the small asteroid Braille (formerly 1992KD) at a relative speed of 35,000 mph. As of November 1999, the ion propulsion system had performed flawlessly for nearly 149 days of thrusting. NASA has approved an extension to the mission, which will allow DS1 to continue thrusting to encounters with two comets in 2001. The DS1 optical and plasma diagnostic instruments will be used to investigate the comet and space environments. The spacecraft is scheduled to fly past the dormant comet Wilson- Harrington in January 2001 and the very active comet Borrelly in September 2001, at which time approximately 500 days of ion engine thrusting will have been completed.

Strategies to improve the outcome of emergency surgery for perforated peptic ulcer.

PubMed

Søreide, K; Thorsen, K; Søreide, J A

2014-01-01

Perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) is a common surgical emergency that carries high mortality and morbidity rates. Globally, one-quarter of a million people die from peptic ulcer disease each year. Strategies to improve outcomes are needed. PubMed was searched for evidence related to the surgical treatment of patients with PPU. The clinical registries of trials were examined for other available or ongoing studies. Randomized clinical trials (RCTs), systematic reviews and meta-analyses were preferred. Deaths from peptic ulcer disease eclipse those of several other common emergencies. The reported incidence of PPU is 3.8-14 per 100,000 and the mortality rate is 10-25 per cent. The possibility of non-operative management has been assessed in one small RCT of 83 patients, with success in 29 (73 per cent) of 40, and only in patients aged less than 70 years. Adherence to a perioperative sepsis protocol decreased mortality in a cohort study, with a relative risk (RR) reduction of 0.63 (95 per cent confidence interval (c.i.) 0.41 to 0.97). Based on meta-analysis of three RCTs (315 patients), laparoscopic and open surgery for PPU are equivalent, but patient selection remains a challenge. Eradication of Helicobacter pylori after surgical repair of PPI reduces both the short-term (RR 2.97, 95 per cent c.i. 1.06 to 8.29) and 1-year (RR 1.49, 1.10 to 2.03) risk of ulcer recurrence. Mortality and morbidity from PPU can be reduced by adherence to perioperative strategies. © 2013 BJS Society Ltd. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The selective use of laparoscopic repair is safe in high-risk patients suffering from perforated peptic ulcer.

PubMed

Teoh, Anthony Yuen Bun; Chiu, Philip Wai Yan; Kok, Amy Siu Yan; Wong, Simon Kin Hung; Ng, Enders Kwok Wai

2015-03-01

The use of laparoscopic repair for perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) was shown to be safe and recommended in low-risk patients. However, whether the approach is safe to apply to high-risk patients is uncertain. This was a retrospective study of all patients with PPU admitted between January 2002 and December 2012. The laparoscopy-first approach (LFA) was adopted as a routine for all patients. The outcomes of LFA for PPU were reviewed and assessed to determine if the approach was safe in high-risk patients. Three hundred and seventy three patients that suffered from PPU were included into the study and 50.9% received laparoscopic repair. There was a significant increase in the number of operations performed yearly by the LFA (P < 0.001). 25.2% of the patients had a Boey score of ≥2. High-risk patients that received LFA suffered from larger ulcers (P < 0.001) with more severe contamination (P = 0.006) that required conversion (P = 0.002) when compared to the low-risk patients. When compared to open surgery, more high-risk patients in the open group had ASA grade ≥3 (P = 0.007) and suffered from mortality (P = 0.001). The only significant predictor to mortality in high-risk patients was ASA grade ≥3 (P = 0.014). The adoption of LFA in patients suffering from PPU was associated with acceptable rates of mortality and morbidity. The approach could also be selectively adopted in patients with Boey score ≥2 provided their ASA grading is low and hemodynamically stable.

Synthesis of palm-based polyurethane-LiClO{sub 4} via prepolymerization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sien, Jason Wong Chee; School of Biosciences, Taylor’s University, Subang Jaya; Badri, Khairiah Haji

2015-09-25

Palm-based polyurethane (pPU) with varying lithium salt (LiClO{sub 4}) content was synthesized. Higher loading percentage of LiClO{sub 4} in the pPU led to the inhibition of prepolymerization process from taking place. Hydrogen bonded C=O was detected in the FTIR spectrum indicating the hydrogen bonding between the urethane bonds. Ordered complexed C=O was observed in the FTIR spectrum confirming the complex formation between urethane bond and Li{sup +} ion. DSC thermogram showed the increase in the LiClO{sub 4} content could increase the glass transition temperature. SEM micrographs exhibited that more bubbles were formed when the LiClO{sub 4} increased from 10 tomore » 30wt% indicating the reaction between free isocyanate groups with moisture presence in the salt due to the hygroscopic properties of LiClO{sub 4}.« less

Insertional inactivation of oprD in carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains isolated from burn patients in Tehran, Iran.

PubMed

Shariati, A; Azimi, T; Ardebili, A; Chirani, A S; Bahramian, A; Pormohammad, A; Sadredinamin, M; Erfanimanesh, S; Bostanghadiri, N; Shams, S; Hashemi, A

2018-01-01

In this study, we report the insertion sequence IS Ppu 21 in the opr D porin gene of carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from burn patients in Tehran, Iran. Antibiotic susceptibility tests for P. aeruginosa isolates were determined. Production of metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs) and carbapenemase was evaluated and the β-lactamase-encoding and aminoglycoside-modifying enzyme genes were investigated by PCR and sequencing methods. The mRNA transcription level of oprD and mex efflux pump genes were evaluated by real-time PCR. The outer membrane protein profile was determined by SDS-PAGE. The genetic relationship between the P. aeruginosa isolates was assessed by random amplified polymorphic DNA PCR. In all, 10.52% (10/95) of clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa harboured the IS Ppu 21 insertion element in the opr D gene. The extended-spectrum β-lactamase-encoding gene in IS Ppu 21-carrying isolates was bla TEM . PCR assays targeting MBL and carbapenemase-encoding genes were also negative in all ten isolates. The rmt A, aad A, aad B and arm A genes were positive in all IS Ppu 21 harbouring isolates. The relative expression levels of the mex X, mex B, mex T and mex D genes in ten isolates ranged from 0.1- to 1.4-fold, 1.1- to 3.68-fold, 0.3- to 8.22-fold and 1.7- to 35.17-fold, respectively. The relative expression levels of the oprD in ten isolates ranged from 0.57- to 35.01-fold, which was much higher than those in the control strain P. aeruginosa PAO1. Evaluation of the outer membrane protein by SDS-PAGE suggested that opr D was produced at very low levels by all isolates. Using random amplified polymorphic DNA PCR genotyping, eight of the ten isolates containing IS Ppu 21 were shown to be clonally related. The present study describes a novel molecular mechanism, IS Ppu 21 insertion of the opr D gene, associated with carbapenem resistance in clinical P. aeruginosa isolates.

Scoring systems for outcome prediction in patients with perforated peptic ulcer.

PubMed

Thorsen, Kenneth; Søreide, Jon Arne; Søreide, Kjetil

2013-04-10

Patients with perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) often present with acute, severe illness that carries a high risk for morbidity and mortality. Mortality ranges from 3-40% and several prognostic scoring systems have been suggested. The aim of this study was to review the available scoring systems for PPU patients, and to assert if there is evidence to prefer one to the other. We searched PubMed for the mesh terms "perforated peptic ulcer", "scoring systems", "risk factors", "outcome prediction", "mortality", "morbidity" and the combinations of these terms. In addition to relevant scores introduced in the past (e.g. Boey score), we included recent studies published between January 2000 and December 2012) that reported on scoring systems for prediction of morbidity and mortality in PPU patients. A total of ten different scoring systems used to predict outcome in PPU patients were identified; the Boey score, the Hacettepe score, the Jabalpur score the peptic ulcer perforation (PULP) score, the ASA score, the Charlson comorbidity index, the sepsis score, the Mannheim Peritonitis Index (MPI), the Acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II (APACHE II), the simplified acute physiology score II (SAPS II), the Mortality probability models II (MPM II), the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enumeration of Mortality and Morbidity physical sub-score (POSSUM-phys score). Only four of the scores were specifically constructed for PPU patients. In five studies the accuracy of outcome prediction of different scoring systems was evaluated by receiver operating characteristics curve (ROC) analysis, and the corresponding area under the curve (AUC) among studies compared. Considerable variation in performance both between different scores and between different studies was found, with the lowest and highest AUC reported between 0.63 and 0.98, respectively. While the Boey score and the ASA score are most commonly used to predict outcome for PPU patients, considerable variations in accuracy for outcome prediction were shown. Other scoring systems are hampered by a lack of validation or by their complexity that precludes routine clinical use. While the PULP score seems promising it needs external validation before widespread use.

Scoring systems for outcome prediction in patients with perforated peptic ulcer

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Patients with perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) often present with acute, severe illness that carries a high risk for morbidity and mortality. Mortality ranges from 3-40% and several prognostic scoring systems have been suggested. The aim of this study was to review the available scoring systems for PPU patients, and to assert if there is evidence to prefer one to the other. Material and methods We searched PubMed for the mesh terms “perforated peptic ulcer”, “scoring systems”, “risk factors”, ”outcome prediction”, “mortality”, ”morbidity” and the combinations of these terms. In addition to relevant scores introduced in the past (e.g. Boey score), we included recent studies published between January 2000 and December 2012) that reported on scoring systems for prediction of morbidity and mortality in PPU patients. Results A total of ten different scoring systems used to predict outcome in PPU patients were identified; the Boey score, the Hacettepe score, the Jabalpur score the peptic ulcer perforation (PULP) score, the ASA score, the Charlson comorbidity index, the sepsis score, the Mannheim Peritonitis Index (MPI), the Acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II (APACHE II), the simplified acute physiology score II (SAPS II), the Mortality probability models II (MPM II), the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enumeration of Mortality and Morbidity physical sub-score (POSSUM-phys score). Only four of the scores were specifically constructed for PPU patients. In five studies the accuracy of outcome prediction of different scoring systems was evaluated by receiver operating characteristics curve (ROC) analysis, and the corresponding area under the curve (AUC) among studies compared. Considerable variation in performance both between different scores and between different studies was found, with the lowest and highest AUC reported between 0.63 and 0.98, respectively. Conclusion While the Boey score and the ASA score are most commonly used to predict outcome for PPU patients, considerable variations in accuracy for outcome prediction were shown. Other scoring systems are hampered by a lack of validation or by their complexity that precludes routine clinical use. While the PULP score seems promising it needs external validation before widespread use. PMID:23574922

Influence of body mass index on mortality after surgery for perforated peptic ulcer.

PubMed

Buck, D L; Møller, M H

2014-07-01

Body mass index (BMI) is a strong predictor of mortality in the general population. In spite of the medical hazards of obesity, a protective effect on mortality has been suggested in surgical patients: the obesity paradox. The aim of the present nationwide cohort study was to examine the association between BMI and mortality in patients treated surgically for perforated peptic ulcer (PPU). This was a national prospective cohort study of all Danish patients treated surgically for PPU between 1 February 2003 and 31 August 2009, for whom BMI was registered. Non-surgically treated patients and those with malignant ulcers were excluded. The primary outcome measure was 90-day mortality. The association between BMI and mortality was calculated as crude and adjusted relative risks (RRs) with 95 per cent confidence intervals (c.i.). Of 2668 patients who underwent surgical treatment for PPU, 1699 (63.7 per cent) had BMI recorded. Median age was 69.4 (range 17.6-100.9) years and 53.7 per cent of the patients were women. Some 1126 patients (66.3 per cent) had at least one of six co-morbid diseases; 728 (42.8 per cent) had an American Society of Anesthesiologists grade of III or more. A total of 471 patients (27.7 per cent) died within 90 days of surgery. Being underweight was associated with a more than twofold increased risk of death following surgery for PPU (adjusted RR 2.26, 95 per cent c.i. 1.37 to 3.71). No statistically significant association was found between obesity and mortality. Being underweight was associated with increased mortality in patients with PPU, whereas being overweight or obese was neither protective nor an adverse prognostic factor. © 2014 BJS Society Ltd. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Low-Cost, High-Performance Hall Thruster Support System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hesterman, Bryce

2015-01-01

Colorado Power Electronics (CPE) has built an innovative modular PPU for Hall thrusters, including discharge, magnet, heater and keeper supplies, and an interface module. This high-performance PPU offers resonant circuit topologies, magnetics design, modularity, and a stable and sustained operation during severe Hall effect thruster current oscillations. Laboratory testing has demonstrated discharge module efficiency of 96 percent, which is considerably higher than current state of the art.

Nonoperative management for perforated peptic ulcer: who can benefit?

PubMed

Cao, Feng; Li, Jia; Li, Ang; Fang, Yu; Wang, Ya-Jun; Li, Fei

2014-07-01

Although nonoperative management for perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) has been used for several decades, the indication is still unclear. A clinicoradiological score was sought to predict who can benefit from it. A clinicoradiological protocol for the assessment of patients presenting with PPU was used. A logistic regression model was applied to identify determinant variables and construct a clinical score that would identify patients who can be successfully treated with nonoperative management. Of 241 consecutive patients with PPU, 107 successfully received nonoperative management, and 134 required surgery. In multivariable analysis, the following four variables correlated with surgery and were given one point each toward the clinical score: age ≥70 years, fluid collection detection by ultrasound, contrast extravasation detection by water-soluble contrast examination, and Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) score ≥8. Eighty-five percent of patients with a score of 1 or less were successfully treated with nonoperative management, whereas 23 of 29 patients with a score of 3 or more required surgery. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.804 (95% confidence interval = 0.717-0.891). By combining clinical, radiological parameters, and APACHE II score, the clinical score allowed early identification of PPU patients who can benefit from nonoperative management. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Status of the Development of Flight Power Processing Units for the NASAs Evolutionary Xenon Thruster - Commercial (NEXT-C) Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Aulisio, Michael V.; Pinero, Luis R.; White, Brandon L.; Hickman, Tyler A.; Bontempo, James J.; Hertel, Thomas A.; Birchenough, Arthur G.

2016-01-01

A pathfinder prototype unit and two flight power processing units (PPUs) are being developed by the Aerojet Rocketdyne Corporation in Redmond, Washington and ZIN Technologies in Cleveland, Ohio, in support of the NEXT-C Project. This project is being led by the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, and will also yield two flight thrusters. This hardware is being considered to be provided as Government Furnished Equipment for the New Frontiers Program, and is applicable to a variety of planetary science missions and astrophysics science missions. The design of the NEXT-C PPU evolves from the hardware fabricated under the NEXT technology development project. The power processing unit operates from two sources: a wide input 80 to 160 V high-power bus and a nominal 28 V low-power bus. The unit includes six power supplies. Four power supplies (beam, accelerator, discharge, and neutralizer keeper) are needed for steady state operation, while two cathode heater power supplies (neutralizer and discharge) are utilized during thruster startup. The unit in total delivers up to 7 kW of regulated power to a single gridded-ion thruster. Significant modifications to the initial design include: high-power adaptive-delay control, upgrade of design to EEE-INST-002 compliance, telemetry accuracy improvements, incorporation of telemetry to detect plume-mode operation, and simplification of the design in select areas to improve manufacturability and commercialization potential. The project is presently in the prototype phase and preparing for qualification level environmental testing.

Perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) in pregnancy during Ramadan fasting.

PubMed

Gali, B M; Ibrahim, A G; Chama, C M; Mshelia, H B; Abubakar, A; Takai, I U; Takie, U; Bwala, S

2011-01-01

Perforated Peptic Ulcer (PPU) is extremely rare in pregnancy. We report a case of perforated peptic ulcer in pregnancy during Ramadan fasting. The patient is a 16 years old primigravida who presented with features of peritonitis at 28weeks of gestation while fasting during Ramadan. Ultrasound scan reported a singleton live fetus at 28 weeks gestation. At laparotomy via upper midline incision; a 1 cm roundish perforation located on the duodenum anteriorly was found with about a litre of gastric juice mixed with blood and food particles in the peritoneal cavity. The perforation was close transversely with omental patch (Modified Graham's patch) and peritoneal lavage done with warm saline. She had a preterm delivery of a 1 kg baby 3 days post-operatively by a spontaneous vaginal delivery, but the baby died 3 days later. Perforated Peptic Ulcer(PPU) though rare in pregnancy can occur and fasting can be a risk factor.

Preoperative prognostic factors for mortality in peptic ulcer perforation: a systematic review.

PubMed

Møller, Morten Hylander; Adamsen, Sven; Thomsen, Reimar Wernich; Møller, Ann Merete

2010-08-01

Mortality and morbidity following perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) is substantial and probably related to the development of sepsis. During the last three decades a large number of preoperative prognostic factors in patients with PPU have been examined. The aim of this systematic review was to summarize available evidence on these prognostic factors. MEDLINE (January 1966 to June 2009), EMBASE (January 1980 to June 2009), and the Cochrane Library (Issue 3, 2009) were screened for studies reporting preoperative prognostic factors for mortality in patients with PPU. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed. Summary relative risks with 95% confidence intervals for the identified prognostic factors were calculated and presented as Forest plots. Fifty prognostic studies with 37 prognostic factors comprising a total of 29,782 patients were included in the review. The overall methodological quality was acceptable, yet only two-thirds of the studies provided confounder adjusted estimates. The studies provided strong evidence for an association of older age, comorbidity, and use of NSAIDs or steroids with mortality. Shock upon admission, preoperative metabolic acidosis, tachycardia, acute renal failure, low serum albumin level, high American Society of Anaesthesiologists score, and preoperative delay >24 h were associated with poor prognosis. In patients with PPU, a number of negative prognostic factors can be identified prior to surgery, and many of these seem to be related to presence of the sepsis syndrome.

Development of a 13 kW Hall Thruster Propulsion System Performance Model for AEPS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stanley, Steven; Allen, May; Goodfellow, Keith; Chew, Gilbert; Rapetti, Ryan; Tofil, Todd; Herman, Dan; Jackson, Jerry; Myers, Roger

2017-01-01

The Advanced Electric Propulsion System (AEPS) program will develop a flight 13kW Hall thruster propulsion system based on NASA's HERMeS thruster. The AEPS system includes the Hall Thruster, the Power Processing Unit (PPU) and the Xenon Flow Controller (XFC). These three primary components must operate together to ensure that the system generates the required combinations of thrust and specific impulse at the required system efficiencies for the desired system lifetime. At the highest level, the AEPS system will be integrated into the spacecraft and will receive power, propellant, and commands from the spacecraft. Power and propellant flow rates will be determined by the throttle set points commanded by the spacecraft. Within the system, the major control loop is between the mass flow rate and thruster current, with time-dependencies required to handle all expected transients, and additional, much slower interactions between the thruster and cathode temperatures, flow controller and PPU. The internal system interactions generally occur on shorter timescales than the spacecraft interactions, though certain failure modes may require rapid responses from the spacecraft. The AEPS system performance model is designed to account for all these interactions in a way that allows evaluation of the sensitivity of the system to expected changes over the planned mission as well as to assess the impacts of normal component and assembly variability during the production phase of the program. This effort describes the plan for the system performance model development, correlation to NASA test data, and how the model will be used to evaluate the critical internal and external interactions. The results will ensure the component requirements do not unnecessarily drive the system cost or overly constrain the development program. Finally, the model will be available to quickly troubleshoot any future unforeseen development challenges.

Meta-analysis of laparoscopic versus open repair of perforated peptic ulcer.

PubMed

Antoniou, Stavros A; Antoniou, George A; Koch, Oliver O; Pointner, Rudolph; Granderath, Frank A

2013-01-01

Laparoscopic treatment of perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) has been introduced as an alternative procedure to open surgery. It has been postulated that the minimally invasive approach involves less operative stress and results in decreased morbidity and mortality. We conducted a meta-analysis of randomized trials to test this hypothesis. Medline, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Central Register of Randomized Trials databases were searched, with no date or language restrictions. Our literature search identified 4 randomized trials, with a cumulative number of 289 patients, that compared the laparoscopic approach with open sutured repair of perforated ulcer. Analysis of outcomes did not favor either approach in terms of morbidity, mortality, and reoperation rate, although odds ratios seemed to consistently support the laparoscopic approach. Results did not determine the comparative efficiency and safety of laparoscopic or open approach for PPU. In view of an increased interest in the laparoscopic approach, further randomized trials are considered essential to determine the relative effectiveness of laparoscopic and open repair of PPU.

Meta-analysis of Laparoscopic Versus Open Repair of Perforated Peptic Ulcer

PubMed Central

Antoniou, George A.; Koch, Oliver O.; Pointner, Rudolph; Granderath, Frank A.

2013-01-01

Background and Objectives: Laparoscopic treatment of perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) has been introduced as an alternative procedure to open surgery. It has been postulated that the minimally invasive approach involves less operative stress and results in decreased morbidity and mortality. Methods: We conducted a meta-analysis of randomized trials to test this hypothesis. Medline, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Central Register of Randomized Trials databases were searched, with no date or language restrictions. Results: Our literature search identified 4 randomized trials, with a cumulative number of 289 patients, that compared the laparoscopic approach with open sutured repair of perforated ulcer. Analysis of outcomes did not favor either approach in terms of morbidity, mortality, and reoperation rate, although odds ratios seemed to consistently support the laparoscopic approach. Results did not determine the comparative efficiency and safety of laparoscopic or open approach for PPU. Conclusion: In view of an increased interest in the laparoscopic approach, further randomized trials are considered essential to determine the relative effectiveness of laparoscopic and open repair of PPU. PMID:23743368

Antifungal therapy did not improve outcomes including 30-day all-cause mortality in patients suffering community-acquired perforated peptic ulcer-associated peritonitis with Candida species isolated from their peritoneal fluid.

PubMed

Li, Wei-Sin; Lee, Chen-Hsiang; Liu, Jien-Wei

2017-06-01

Although patients suffering community-acquired perforated peptic ulcer (PPU)-associated peritonitis with Candida species isolated from their peritoneal fluid have higher chances of mortality and experiencing a complicated postoperative clinical course, universal antifungal therapy for these patients remains controversial. This is a retrospective analysis of the impacts of antifungal therapy on outcomes of patients suffering community-acquired PPU-associated peritonitis with Candida species isolated from their ascites at a medical center in Taiwan. All included patients received source control and antibiotic treatment, with or without additional postoperative antifungal therapy with fluconazole or an echinocandin for at least 3 days. Among the 133 included patients, 76 did not receive (Group 1) and 57 did receive (Group 2) antifungal therapy. Sixteen (12%) of the overall included patients died within 30 days. Shock [odds ratio (OR), 5.6; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.9-16.5; p = 0.002] and higher Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score (>20; OR, 9.5; 95% CI, 1.1-80.7; p = 0.04) were independently associated with 30-day mortality. Among the 80 matched patients from Groups 1 and 2 (1:1 matched) with the closest propensity score, no significant difference was found in 30-day all-cause mortality, time to mortality, the need for reoperation/abscess formation/anastomotic leakage, prolonged intensive care unit stay, and prolonged mechanical ventilator dependence between patients with and without antifungal therapy. Our study provides solid evidence supporting the notions that antifungal therapies do not benefit patients suffering PPU peritonitis with Candida species isolated from their ascites in general, and antifungal therapy could be reserved for patients who are critically ill and/or severely immunocompromised. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Laparoscopic versus open repair of perforated peptic ulcer: A retrospective cohort study.

PubMed

Smith, Rohan Stuart; Sundaramurthy, Senthilkumar Rajavel; Croagh, Daniel

2018-05-27

Perforated peptic ulcer disease (PPU) is a condition subject to wide geographical variations in incidence. It remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality, even in the era of Helicobacter pylori eradication and proton-pump inhibitor therapy. There is no clear consensus on whether laparoscopic or open approaches are superior, and with most studies in this area originating from Europe and Asia, Australian data addressing this issue are lacking. This retrospective cohort study included all patients who underwent surgery for PPU within a hospital network in Australia. Baseline variables and primary outcomes, including length of hospital stay, chest and abdominal complications, and mortality, were recorded. Secondary outcomes, including reasons for conversion, were also considered. In total, 109 patients underwent operations for PPU between January 2011 and December 2015. There were no significant differences with regard to baseline comorbidities. There were no statistically significant differences in terms of median length of hospital stay or rates of chest and abdominal complications, but the operative time was 28.5 min longer (P = <0.001) in the laparoscopic group than in the open group. Open operations were faster to perform than laparoscopic operations for repair of PPU. Despite increased experience treating many surgical diseases laparoscopically, this study did not find it to be superior in terms of length of hospital stay or complication rates. © 2018 Japan Society for Endoscopic Surgery, Asia Endosurgery Task Force and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Management of perforated peptic ulcer in a district general hospital.

PubMed

Critchley, A C; Phillips, A W; Bawa, S M; Gallagher, P V

2011-11-01

Laparoscopic surgery has become increasingly popular for elective surgery but it has gained slow transference to emergency surgery. The management of perforated peptic ulcers (PPU) laparoscopically is an accepted strategy yet it still remains infrequently used. The purpose of this study was to analyse the utility and outcomes of laparoscopy versus open repair for PPU in a district general hospital. In addition, we evaluated whether the subspecialty of the on-call consultant affected the method of repair performed and the training opportunities for trainee surgeons. Between 2003 and 2009, 53 patients underwent laparoscopic repair, 89 patients underwent open repair and a further 20 patients had laparoscopic repair that was converted to open repair for PPU. The results from a prospectively compiled database were analysed with primary outcome measures including operative time, length of hospital stay and mortality. The median operating time in the laparoscopic group was 60.0 minutes compared with 50.5 minutes in the open group. Hospital stay in surviving patients was significantly shorter in patients treated completely laparoscopically (5 days) when compared with the open group (6 days) ( p <0.01). There were six deaths in the laparoscopic group (11%) compared with 13 in the open group (15%) and one in the converted group (5%). Trainees performed 53% (47/89) of open repairs and 13% (7/54) of laparoscopic repairs. Both laparoscopic and open repair are equally safe in the management of PPU. Our findings support the view that this procedure can be successfully used as a training operation.

THOR Field and Wave Processor - FWP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soucek, Jan; Rothkaehl, Hanna; Balikhin, Michael; Zaslavsky, Arnaud; Nakamura, Rumi; Khotyaintsev, Yuri; Uhlir, Ludek; Lan, Radek; Yearby, Keith; Morawski, Marek; Winkler, Marek

2016-04-01

If selected, Turbulence Heating ObserveR (THOR) will become the first mission ever flown in space dedicated to plasma turbulence. The Fields and Waves Processor (FWP) is an integrated electronics unit for all electromagnetic field measurements performed by THOR. FWP will interface with all fields sensors: electric field antennas of the EFI instrument, the MAG fluxgate magnetometer and search-coil magnetometer (SCM) and perform data digitization and on-board processing. FWP box will house multiple data acquisition sub-units and signal analyzers all sharing a common power supply and data processing unit and thus a single data and power interface to the spacecraft. Integrating all the electromagnetic field measurements in a single unit will improve the consistency of field measurement and accuracy of time synchronization. The feasibility of making highly sensitive electric and magnetic field measurements in space has been demonstrated by Cluster (among other spacecraft) and THOR instrumentation complemented by a thorough electromagnetic cleanliness program will further improve on this heritage. Taking advantage of the capabilities of modern electronics, FWP will provide simultaneous synchronized waveform and spectral data products at high time resolution from the numerous THOR sensors, taking advantage of the large telemetry bandwidth of THOR. FWP will also implement a plasma a resonance sounder and a digital plasma quasi-thermal noise analyzer designed to provide high cadence measurements of plasma density and temperature complementary to data from particle instruments. FWP will be interfaced with the particle instrument data processing unit (PPU) via a dedicated digital link which will enable performing on board correlation between waves and particles, quantifying the transfer of energy between waves and particles. The FWP instrument shall be designed and built by an international consortium of scientific institutes from Czech Republic, Poland, France, UK, Sweden and Austria.

Predicting outcomes in patients with perforated gastroduodenal ulcers: artificial neural network modelling indicates a highly complex disease.

PubMed

Søreide, K; Thorsen, K; Søreide, J A

2015-02-01

Mortality prediction models for patients with perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) have not yielded consistent or highly accurate results. Given the complex nature of this disease, which has many non-linear associations with outcomes, we explored artificial neural networks (ANNs) to predict the complex interactions between the risk factors of PPU and death among patients with this condition. ANN modelling using a standard feed-forward, back-propagation neural network with three layers (i.e., an input layer, a hidden layer and an output layer) was used to predict the 30-day mortality of consecutive patients from a population-based cohort undergoing surgery for PPU. A receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to assess model accuracy. Of the 172 patients, 168 had their data included in the model; the data of 117 (70%) were used for the training set, and the data of 51 (39%) were used for the test set. The accuracy, as evaluated by area under the ROC curve (AUC), was best for an inclusive, multifactorial ANN model (AUC 0.90, 95% CIs 0.85-0.95; p < 0.001). This model outperformed standard predictive scores, including Boey and PULP. The importance of each variable decreased as the number of factors included in the ANN model increased. The prediction of death was most accurate when using an ANN model with several univariate influences on the outcome. This finding demonstrates that PPU is a highly complex disease for which clinical prognoses are likely difficult. The incorporation of computerised learning systems might enhance clinical judgments to improve decision making and outcome prediction.

The Peptic Ulcer Perforation (PULP) score: a predictor of mortality following peptic ulcer perforation. A cohort study.

PubMed

Møller, M H; Engebjerg, M C; Adamsen, S; Bendix, J; Thomsen, R W

2012-05-01

Accurate and early identification of high-risk surgical patients with perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) is important for triage and risk stratification. The objective of the present study was to develop a new and improved clinical rule to predict mortality in patients following surgical treatment for PPU. nationwide cohort study based on prospectively collected data. thirty-five hospitals in Denmark. a total of 2668 patients surgically treated for gastric or duodenal PPU between 1 February 2003 and 31 August 2009. 30-day mortality. We derived a new clinical prediction rule for 30-day mortality and evaluated and compared its prognostic performance with the American Society of Anaesthesiologists (ASA) and Boey scores. A total of 708 patients (27%) died within 30 days of surgery. The Peptic Ulcer Perforation (PULP) score - comprised eight variables with an adjusted odds ratio of more than 1.28: 1) age > 65 years, 2) active malignant disease or AIDS, 3) liver cirrhosis, 4) steroid use, 5) time from perforation to admission > 24 h, 6) pre-operative shock, 7) serum creatinine > 130 μM, and 8) the four levels of the ASA score (from 2 to 5). The score predicted mortality well (area under receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC) 0.83). It performed considerably better than the Boey score (AUC 0.70) and better than the ASA score alone (AUC 0.78). The PULP score accurately predicts 30-day mortality in patients operated for PPU and can assist in risk stratification and triage. © 2011 The Authors Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica © 2011 The Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica Foundation.

Surgical delay is a critical determinant of survival in perforated peptic ulcer.

PubMed

Buck, D L; Vester-Andersen, M; Møller, M H

2013-07-01

Morbidity and mortality following perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) remain substantial. Surgical delay is a well established negative prognostic factor, but evidence derives from studies with a high risk of bias. The aim of the present nationwide cohort study was to evaluate the adjusted effect of hourly surgical delay on survival after PPU. This was a cohort study including all Danish patients treated surgically for PPU between 1 February 2003 and 31 August 2009. Medically treated patients and those with a malignant ulcer were excluded. The associations between surgical delay and 30-day survival are presented as crude and adjusted relative risks (RRs) with 95 per cent confidence intervals (c.i.). A total of 2668 patients were included. Their median age was 70·9 (range 16·2-104·2) years and 55·4 per cent (1478 of 2668) were female. Some 67·5 per cent of the patients (1800 of 2668) had at least one of six co-morbid diseases and 45·6 per cent had an American Society of Anesthesiologists fitness grade of III or more. A total of 708 patients (26·5 per cent) died within 30 days of surgery. Every hour of delay from admission to surgery was associated with an adjusted 2·4 per cent decreased probability of survival compared with the previous hour (adjusted RR 1·024, 95 per cent c.i. 1·011 to 1·037). Limiting surgical delay in patients with PPU seems of paramount importance. © 2013 British Journal of Surgery Society Ltd. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Predicting the amount of intraperitoneal fluid accumulation by computed tomography and its clinical use in patients with perforated peptic ulcer.

PubMed

Ishiguro, Toru; Kumagai, Youichi; Baba, Hiroyuki; Tajima, Yusuke; Imaizumi, Hideko; Suzuki, Okihide; Kuwabara, Koki; Matsuzawa, Takeaki; Sobajima, Jun; Fukuchi, Minoru; Ishibashi, Keiichiro; Mochiki, Erito; Ishida, Hideyuki

2014-01-01

The correlation between the amount of peritoneal fluid and clinical parameters in patients with perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) has not been investigated. The authors' objective was to derive a reliable formula for determining the amount of peritoneal fluid in patients with PPU before surgery, and to evaluate the correlation between the estimated amount of peritoneal fluid and clinical parameters. We investigated 62 consecutive patients who underwent emergency surgery for PPU, and in whom prediction of the amount of accumulated intraperitoneal fluid was possible by computed tomography (CT) using the methods described by Oriuchi et al. We examined the relationship between the predicted amount of accumulated intraperitoneal fluid and that measured during surgery, and the relationship between the amount of fluid predicted preoperatively or measured during surgery and several clinical parameters. There was a significant positive correlation between the amount of fluid predicted by CT scan and that measured during surgery. When patients with gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcer were analyzed collectively, the predicted amount of intraperitoneal fluid and the amount measured during surgery were each associated with the period from onset until CT scan, perforation size, the Mannheim peritoneal index, and the severity of postoperative complications according to the Clavien-Dindo classification. Our present results suggest that the method of Oriuchi et al is useful for predicting the amount of accumulated intraperitoneal fluid in patients with PPU, and that this would be potentially helpful for treatment decision-making and estimating the severity of postoperative complications.

Predicting the Amount of Intraperitoneal Fluid Accumulation by Computed Tomography and Its Clinical Use in Patients With Perforated Peptic Ulcer

PubMed Central

Ishiguro, Toru; Kumagai, Youichi; Baba, Hiroyuki; Tajima, Yusuke; Imaizumi, Hideko; Suzuki, Okihide; Kuwabara, Koki; Matsuzawa, Takeaki; Sobajima, Jun; Fukuchi, Minoru; Ishibashi, Keiichiro; Mochiki, Erito; Ishida, Hideyuki

2014-01-01

The correlation between the amount of peritoneal fluid and clinical parameters in patients with perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) has not been investigated. The authors' objective was to derive a reliable formula for determining the amount of peritoneal fluid in patients with PPU before surgery, and to evaluate the correlation between the estimated amount of peritoneal fluid and clinical parameters. We investigated 62 consecutive patients who underwent emergency surgery for PPU, and in whom prediction of the amount of accumulated intraperitoneal fluid was possible by computed tomography (CT) using the methods described by Oriuchi et al. We examined the relationship between the predicted amount of accumulated intraperitoneal fluid and that measured during surgery, and the relationship between the amount of fluid predicted preoperatively or measured during surgery and several clinical parameters. There was a significant positive correlation between the amount of fluid predicted by CT scan and that measured during surgery. When patients with gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcer were analyzed collectively, the predicted amount of intraperitoneal fluid and the amount measured during surgery were each associated with the period from onset until CT scan, perforation size, the Mannheim peritoneal index, and the severity of postoperative complications according to the Clavien–Dindo classification. Our present results suggest that the method of Oriuchi et al is useful for predicting the amount of accumulated intraperitoneal fluid in patients with PPU, and that this would be potentially helpful for treatment decision-making and estimating the severity of postoperative complications. PMID:25437594

Strict Selection Criteria During Surgical Training Ensures Good Outcomes in Laparoscopic Omental Patch Repair (LOPR) for Perforated Peptic Ulcer (PPU).

PubMed

Shelat, Vishal G; Ahmed, Saleem; Chia, Clement L K; Cheah, Yee Lee

2015-02-01

Application of minimal access surgery in acute care surgery is limited due to various reasons. Laparoscopic omental patch repair (LOPR) for perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) surgery is safe and feasible but not widely implemented. We report our early experience of LOPR with emphasis on strict selection criteria. This is a descriptive study of all patients operated on for PPU at academic university-affiliated institutes from December 2010 to February 2012. All the patients who were operated on for LOPR were included as the study population and their records were studied. Perioperative outcomes, Boey score, Mannheim Peritonitis Index (MPI), and physiologic and operative severity scores for enumeration of mortality and morbidity (POSSUM) scores were calculated. All the data were tabulated in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and analyzed using Stata Version 8.x. (StataCorp, College Station, TX, USA). Fourteen patients had LOPR out of a total of 45 patients operated for the PPU. Mean age was 46 years (range 22-87 years). Twelve patients (86%) had a Boey score of 0 and all patients had MPI < 21 (mean MPI = 14). The predicted POSSUM morbidity and mortality were 36% and 7%, respectively. Mean ulcer size was 5 mm (range 2-10 mm), mean operating time was 100 minutes (range 70-123 minutes) and mean length of hospital stay was 4 days (range 3-6 days). There was no morbidity or mortality pertaining to LOPR. LOPR should be offered by acute care surgical teams when local expertise is available. This can optimize patient outcomes when strict selection criteria are applied.

The relationship between computed tomography findings and the locations of perforated peptic ulcers: it may provide better information for gastrointestinal surgeons.

PubMed

Wang, Shang-Yu; Cheng, Chi-Tung; Liao, Chien-Hung; Fu, Chih-Yuan; Wong, Yon-Cheong; Chen, Huan-Wu; Ouyang, Chun-Hsiang; Kuo, I-Ming; Hsu, Yu-Pao; Yeh, Chun-Nan

2016-10-01

Computed tomography (CT) plays an important role in diagnosing gastrointestinal perforation. This study explored the relationship between CT findings and the locations of perforated peptic ulcers (PPUs), which may help further surgical planning. During a 34-month period, 175 patients had CT scans. We categorized those 175 patients into 2 groups: patients with and without a PPU at a difficult ulcer site for a laparoscopic approach. Both clinical data and the CT images were reviewed and analyzed. Based on the univariate analysis results, we conducted multivariate analyses of 3 factors: age, American Society of Anesthesiologists classification of 3 or more, and positive lesser sac image findings. The positive lesser sac findings in CT were the only independent factor that was correlated to the PPU site. Positive lesser sac CT findings may help to predict PPUs in sites where a laparoscopic approach might be difficult. Our study re-evaluates the additional value of CT scanning in diagnosing PPU, and the results may assist with surgical planning in clinical practice. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Low serum albumin may predict the need for gastric resection in patients with perforated peptic ulcer.

PubMed

Seow, J G; Lim, Y R; Shelat, V G

2017-06-01

Perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) is a common surgical emergency and treatment involves omental patch repair (PR). Gastric resection (GR) is reserved for difficult pathologies. We audit the outcomes of GR at our institution and evaluate the pre-operative factors predicting the need for GR. This is a single-institution, retrospective study of patients with PPU who underwent surgery from 2004 to 2012. Demographics, clinical presentation and intra-operative findings were studied to identify factors predicting the need for GR in PPU. An audit of clinical outcomes and mortality for all patients with GR is reported. 537 (89.6 %) patients underwent PR and 62 (10.4 %) patients GR. Old age (p < 0.0001), female sex (p = 0.0123), non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) usage (p = 0.0008), previous history of peptic ulcer disease (PUD) (p = 0.0159), low hemoglobin (p < 0.0001), low serum albumin (p < 0.0001), high serum creatinine (p = 0.0030), high urea (p = 0.0006) and large ulcer size (p < 0.0001) predict the need for GR. On multivariate analysis only low serum albumin (OR 5.57, 95 % CI 1.56-19.84, p = 0.008) predicted the need for GR. The presence of Helicobacter pylori infection was protective against GR (OR 0.25, 95 %CI 0.14-0.44, p < 0.0001). Morbidity and mortality of GR was 27.7 and 24.2 %, respectively. GR is needed in one in ten cases of PPU. Low serum albumin predicted the need for GR on multivariate analysis. Morbidity and mortality of GR remains high.

Effect of Esophageal Cancer Surgeon Volume on Management and Mortality From Emergency Upper Gastrointestinal Conditions: Population-based Cohort Study.

PubMed

Markar, Sheraz R; Mackenzie, Hugh; Askari, Alan; Faiz, Omar; Hanna, George B

2017-11-01

To study the influence of esophageal cancer surgeon volume upon mortality from upper gastrointestinal emergencies. Volume-outcome relationships led to the centralization of esophageal cancer surgery. Hospital Episode Statistics data were used to identify patients admitted to hospitals within England (1997-2012). The influence of esophageal high-volume (HV) cancer surgeon status (≥5 resections per year) upon 30-day and 90-day mortality from esophageal perforation (EP), paraesophageal hernia causing obstruction or gangrene (PEH) and perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) was analyzed, independent of HV esophageal cancer center status and patient and disease-specific confounding factors. A total of 3707, 12,411, and 57,164 patients with EP, PEH, and PPU, respectively, were included. The observed 90-day mortality was 36.5%, 11.5%, and 29.0% for EP, PEH, and PPU, respectively.Management by HV cancer surgeon was independently associated with significant reductions in 30-day and 90-day mortality from EP (odds ratio, OR 0.51, 95% confidence interval, CI, 0.40-0.66), PEH (OR=0.70, 95% CI 0.53-0.91), and PPU (OR=0.85, 95% CI 0.7-0.95). Subset analysis of those patients receiving primary surgery as treatment showed no change in mortality when performed by HV cancer surgeons.However HV cancer surgeons performed surgery as primary treatment more commonly for EP (OR=2.38, 95% CI 1.87-3.04) and PEH (OR=2.12, 95% CI 1.79-2.51). Furthermore surgery was independently associated with reduced mortality for all 3 conditions. The complex elective workload of HV esophageal cancer surgeons appears to lower the threshold for surgical intervention in specific upper gastrointestinal emergencies such as EP and PEH, which in turn reduces mortality.

Laparoscopic versus open operation for perforated peptic ulcer in pediatric patients: A 10-year experience.

PubMed

Wong, Carol W Y; Chung, Patrick H Y; Tam, Paul K H; Wong, Kenneth K Y

2015-12-01

Perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) is a relatively uncommon condition in children. We aim to evaluate and compare the outcomes of laparoscopic omental patch repair versus open repair for PPU in pediatric patients. Children who underwent omental patch repair for PPU from 2004 to 2014 in our hospital were reviewed retrospectively. Patient demographics, perioperative as well as intraoperative details and surgical outcomes, were analyzed. Thirteen patients were identified, and all presented with abdominal pain. The median age of the study group was 14.9years (range 6.3 to 18.4years). Radiological evidence of pneumoperitoneum on erect chest x-ray (CXR) was found only in five patients (38.5%). None of the patients had a known history of peptic ulcer disease. Diagnosis other than PPU was made in five patients preoperatively. Laparoscopic repair was attempted in eight patients with one of them requiring conversion. There was no significant difference in patient demographics when compared with the open repair group. The perforation site was in the duodenum in 11 patients and in the antrum in two patients. The mean size of perforation was larger in the open repair group (p=0.005). Although the operating time was longer in the laparoscopic group (p=0.51), the length of hospital stay was significantly shorter (p=0.048). Only two patient diseases were Helicobacter pylori related. Clinical features of perforated peptic ulcer in children are different from adults. Risk factors are less frequently identified. Laparoscopic omental patch repair is a feasible surgical option and is associated with satisfactory outcomes in pediatric practice. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Strict Selection Criteria During Surgical Training Ensures Good Outcomes in Laparoscopic Omental Patch Repair (LOPR) for Perforated Peptic Ulcer (PPU)

PubMed Central

Shelat, Vishal G.; Ahmed, Saleem; Chia, Clement L. K.; Cheah, Yee Lee

2015-01-01

Application of minimal access surgery in acute care surgery is limited due to various reasons. Laparoscopic omental patch repair (LOPR) for perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) surgery is safe and feasible but not widely implemented. We report our early experience of LOPR with emphasis on strict selection criteria. This is a descriptive study of all patients operated on for PPU at academic university-affiliated institutes from December 2010 to February 2012. All the patients who were operated on for LOPR were included as the study population and their records were studied. Perioperative outcomes, Boey score, Mannheim Peritonitis Index (MPI), and physiologic and operative severity scores for enumeration of mortality and morbidity (POSSUM) scores were calculated. All the data were tabulated in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and analyzed using Stata Version 8.x. (StataCorp, College Station, TX, USA). Fourteen patients had LOPR out of a total of 45 patients operated for the PPU. Mean age was 46 years (range 22−87 years). Twelve patients (86%) had a Boey score of 0 and all patients had MPI < 21 (mean MPI = 14). The predicted POSSUM morbidity and mortality were 36% and 7%, respectively. Mean ulcer size was 5 mm (range 2−10 mm), mean operating time was 100 minutes (range 70−123 minutes) and mean length of hospital stay was 4 days (range 3−6 days). There was no morbidity or mortality pertaining to LOPR. LOPR should be offered by acute care surgical teams when local expertise is available. This can optimize patient outcomes when strict selection criteria are applied. PMID:25692444

Trends in diagnosis and surgical management of patients with perforated peptic ulcer.

PubMed

Thorsen, Kenneth; Glomsaker, Tom B; von Meer, Andreas; Søreide, Kjetil; Søreide, Jon Arne

2011-08-01

While the laparoscopic treatment of perforated peptic ulcers (PPU) has been shown to be feasible and safe, its implementation into routine clinical practice has been slow. Only a few studies have evaluated its overall utility. The aim of this study was to investigate changes in surgical management of PPU and associated outcomes. The study was a retrospective, single institution, population-based review of all patients undergoing surgery for PPU between 2003 and 2009. Patient demographics, diagnostic evaluation, management, and outcomes were evaluated. Included were 114 patients with a median age of 67 years (range, 20-100). Women comprised 59% and were older (p < 0.001), had more comorbidities (p = 0.002), and had a higher Boey risk score (p = 0.036) compared to men. Perforation location was gastric/pyloric in 72% and duodenal in 28% of patients. Pneumoperitoneum was diagnosed by plain abdominal x-ray in 30 of 41 patients (75%) and by abdominal computerized tomography (CT) in 76 of 77 patients (98%; p < 0.001).Laparoscopic treatment was initiated in 48 patients (42%) and completed in 36 patients (75% of attempted cases). Laparoscopic treatment rate increased from 7% to 46% during the study period (p = 0.02). Median operation time was shorter in patients treated via laparotomy (70 min) compared to laparoscopy (82 min) and those converted from laparoscopy to laparotomy (105 min; p = 0.017). Postoperative complications occurred in 56 patients (49%). Overall 30-day postoperative mortality was 16%. No statistically significant differences were found in morbidity and mortality between open versus laparoscopic repair. This study demonstrates an increased use of CT as the primary diagnostic tool for PPU and of laparoscopic repair in its surgical treatment. These changes in management are not associated with altered outcomes.

Five year experience in management of perforated peptic ulcer and validation of common mortality risk prediction models - are existing models sufficient? A retrospective cohort study.

PubMed

Anbalakan, K; Chua, D; Pandya, G J; Shelat, V G

2015-02-01

Emergency surgery for perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Accurate and early risk stratification is important. The primary aim of this study is to validate the various existing MRPMs and secondary aim is to audit our experience of managing PPU. 332 patients who underwent emergency surgery for PPU at a single intuition from January 2008 to December 2012 were studied. Clinical and operative details were collected. Four MRPMs: American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) score, Boey's score, Mannheim peritonitis index (MPI) and Peptic ulcer perforation (PULP) score were validated. Median age was 54.7 years (range 17-109 years) with male predominance (82.5%). 61.7% presented within 24 h of onset of abdominal pain. Median length of stay was 7 days (range 2-137 days). Intra-abdominal collection, leakage, re-operation and 30-day mortality rates were 8.1%, 2.1%, 1.2% and 7.2% respectively. All the four MRPMs predicted intra-abdominal collection and mortality; however, only MPI predicted leak (p = 0.01) and re-operation (p = 0.02) rates. The area under curve for predicting mortality was 75%, 72%, 77.2% and 75% for ASA score, Boey's score, MPI and PULP score respectively. Emergency surgery for PPU has low morbidity and mortality in our experience. MPI is the only scoring system which predicts all - intra-abdominal collection, leak, reoperation and mortality. All four MRPMs had a similar and fair accuracy to predict mortality, however due to geographic and demographic diversity and inherent weaknesses of exiting MRPMs, quest for development of an ideal model should continue. Copyright © 2015 Surgical Associates Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Updated Meta-Analysis of Laparoscopic Versus Open Repair for Perforated Peptic Ulcer.

PubMed

Zhou, Chunhua; Wang, Weizhi; Wang, Jiwei; Zhang, Xiaoyu; Zhang, Qun; Li, Bowen; Xu, Zekuan

2015-09-09

Laparoscopic repair (LR) for perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) has been introduced since 1990. Although many studies comparing LR with open repair (OR) have been published, controversy remains regarding the clinical utility of laparoscopic techniques for the treatment of PPU. Thus, it is necessary for us to broaden our knowledge on this subject with the newly published articles. Twenty-four nonrandomized controlled studies (NRS) and five randomized controlled trails (RCTs) were included in our meta-analyses, which comprised 5,268 patients (1,890 in the LR group and 3,378 in the OR group). In the analysis of high quality NRS and RCTs, compared with OR, high quality evidence suggested that LR was associated with a lower incidence of overall postoperative complications; moderate evidence showed that the two procedures had the similar reoperation rate; based on the low quality evidence, LR had reduced hospital mortality and similar operative time; Moreover, LR was observed having the advantages of earlier resumption of oral intake, shorter hospital stay and less analgesic use, which were supported by very low evidence. All the evidences suggest that LR is better than OR for PPU, but more high-quality RCTs are still needed for further validation.

An Updated Meta-Analysis of Laparoscopic Versus Open Repair for Perforated Peptic Ulcer

PubMed Central

Zhou, Chunhua; Wang, Weizhi; Wang, Jiwei; Zhang, Xiaoyu; Zhang, Qun; Li, Bowen; Xu, Zekuan

2015-01-01

Laparoscopic repair (LR) for perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) has been introduced since 1990. Although many studies comparing LR with open repair (OR) have been published, controversy remains regarding the clinical utility of laparoscopic techniques for the treatment of PPU. Thus, it is necessary for us to broaden our knowledge on this subject with the newly published articles. Twenty-four nonrandomized controlled studies (NRS) and five randomized controlled trails (RCTs) were included in our meta-analyses, which comprised 5,268 patients (1,890 in the LR group and 3,378 in the OR group). In the analysis of high quality NRS and RCTs, compared with OR, high quality evidence suggested that LR was associated with a lower incidence of overall postoperative complications; moderate evidence showed that the two procedures had the similar reoperation rate; based on the low quality evidence, LR had reduced hospital mortality and similar operative time; Moreover, LR was observed having the advantages of earlier resumption of oral intake, shorter hospital stay and less analgesic use, which were supported by very low evidence. All the evidences suggest that LR is better than OR for PPU, but more high-quality RCTs are still needed for further validation. PMID:26350958

Long-Term Mortality in Patients Operated for Perforated Peptic Ulcer: Factors Limiting Longevity are Dominated by Older Age, Comorbidity Burden and Severe Postoperative Complications.

PubMed

Thorsen, K; Søreide, J A; Søreide, K

2017-02-01

Perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) is a surgical emergency associated with high short-term mortality. However, studies on long-term outcomes are scarce. Our aim was to investigate long-term survival after surgery for PPU. A population-based, consecutive cohort of patients who underwent surgery for PPU between 2001 and 2014 was reviewed, and the long-term mortality was assessed. Survival was investigated by univariate analysis (log-rank test) and displayed using Kaplan-Meier survival curves. Multivariable analysis of risk factors for long-term mortality was assessed by Cox proportional hazards regression and reported as hazard ratio (HR) with 95 % confidence intervals (CI). A total of 234 patients were available for the calculation of ninety-day, one-year and two-year mortality, and the results showed rates of 19.2 % (45/234), 22.6 % (53/234) and 24.8 % (58/234), respectively. At the end of follow-up, a total of 109 of the 234 patients (46.6 %) had died. Excluding 37 (15.2 %) patients who died within 30 days of surgery, 197 patients had long-term follow-up (median 57 months, range 1-168) of which 36 % (71/197) died during the follow-up period. In multivariable analyses, age >60 years (HR 3.95, 95 % CI 1.81-8.65), active cancer (HR 3.49, 95 % CI 1.73-7.04), hypoalbuminemia (HR 1.65, 95 % CI 0.99-2.73), pulmonary disease (HR 2.06, 95 % CI 1.14-3.71), cardiovascular disease (HR 1.67, 95 % CI 1.01-2.79) and severe postoperative complications (HR 1.76, 95 % CI 1.07-2.89) during the initial stay for PPU were all independently associated with an increased risk of long-term mortality. Cause of long-term mortality was most frequently (18 of 71; 25 %) attributed to new onset sepsis and/or multiorgan failure. The long-term mortality after surgery for PPU is high. One in every three patients died during follow-up. Older age, comorbidity and severe postoperative complications were risk factors for long-term mortality.

3D-black-blood 3T-MRI for the diagnosis of thoracic large vessel vasculitis: A feasibility study.

PubMed

Treitl, Karla Maria; Maurus, Stefan; Sommer, Nora Narvina; Kooijman-Kurfuerst, Hendrik; Coppenrath, Eva; Treitl, Marcus; Czihal, Michael; Hoffmann, Ulrich; Dechant, Claudia; Schulze-Koops, Hendrik; Saam, Tobias

2017-05-01

To evaluate the feasibility of T1w-3D black-blood turbo spin echo (TSE) sequence with variable flip angles for the diagnosis of thoracic large vessel vasculitis (LVV). Thirty-five patients with LVV, diagnosed according to the current standard of reference, and 35 controls were imaged at 3.0T using 1.2 × 1.3 × 2.0 mm 3 fat-suppressed, T1w-3D, modified Volumetric Isotropic TSE Acquisition (mVISTA) pre- and post-contrast. Applying a navigator and peripheral pulse unit triggering (PPU), the total scan time was 10-12 min. Thoracic aorta and subclavian and pulmonary arteries were evaluated for image quality (IQ), flow artefact intensity, diagnostic confidence, concentric wall thickening and contrast enhancement (CWT, CCE) using a 4-point scale. IQ was good in all examinations (3.25 ± 0.72) and good to excellent in 342 of 408 evaluated segments (83.8 %), while 84.1 % showed no or minor flow artefacts. The interobserver reproducibility for the identification of CCE and CWT was 0.969 and 0.971 (p < 0.001) with an average diagnostic confidence of 3.47 ± 0.64. CCE and CWT were strongly correlated (Cohen's k = 0.87; P < 0.001) and significantly more frequent in the LVV-group (52.8 % vs. 1.0 %; 59.8 % vs. 2.4 %; P < 0.001). Navigated fat-suppressed T1w-3D black-blood MRI with PPU-triggering allows diagnosis of thoracic LVV. • Cross-sectional imaging is frequently applied in the diagnosis of LVV. • Navigated, PPU-triggered, T1w-3D mVISTA pre- and post contrast takes 10-12 min. • In this prospective, single-centre study, T1w-3D mVISTA accurately depicted large thoracic vessels. • T1w-3D mVISTA visualized CWT/CCW as correlates of mural inflammation in LVV. • T1w-3D mVISTA might be an alternative diagnostic tool without ionizing radiation.

Endoscope-assisted laparoscopic repair of perforated peptic ulcers.

PubMed

Lee, Kun-Hua; Chang, Hung-Chi; Lo, Chong-Jeh

2004-04-01

Laparoscopic repairs for perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) are likely to fail in patients with shock, gastric outlet obstruction, or large perforations. This prospective study was performed to evaluate a revised approach of laparoscopic repair with endoscopic assistance to treat these patients. Between April 2001 and February 2002, 30 consecutive patients with PPU were enrolled in this study. The mean age was 43.1 +/- 12.2 years. Male to female ratio was 27:2. One patient was excluded from laparoscopic repair due to a gastric outlet obstruction. The other 29 patients were managed according to a protocol of preoperative upper endoscopy and laparoscopic intracorporeal suture repair with an omental patch. The average operative time was 58.1 +/- 13.5 minutes (range, 36-96 min). The average diameter of perforation was 4.2 +/- 2.0 mm (range, 1-12 mm). The average time to resume oral fluids was 3.2 +/- 0.8 days (range, 2-8 days). The average hospital stay was 4.7 +/- 1.1 days (range, 3-10 days). There was no leakage or mortality. Most patients did not receive parenteral analgesics postoperatively. We conclude that endoscope-assisted laparoscopic repair for PPU is safe and effective. This revised technique allows surgeons to exclude patients who are likely to fail the laparoscopic repair.

[A comparison of laparoscopic versus open repair for the surgical treatment of perforated peptic ulcers].

PubMed

Domínguez-Vega, Gerardo; Pera, Manuel; Ramón, José M; Puig, Sonia; Membrilla, Estela; Sancho, Joan; Grande, Luis

2013-01-01

To analyse the outcomes of laparoscopic versus open repair for perforated peptic ulcers (PPU). All patients undergoing PPU repair between January 2002 and March 2012 were included in the study. Demographic characteristics, operation time, complications, and length of hospital stay were evaluated. Two hundred and twelve patients (median age, 49 years) were included, 60 in the laparoscopic group and 52 in the open group. Patients operated laparoscopically were significantly younger and had a higher consumption of tobacco, alcohol and cannabis. Median acute symptoms time was shorter in the laparoscopic group (6h) compared to the open group (12h; P=.025) Symptoms time was shorter in the laparoscopic group. Median operating time was significantly longer in the laparoscopic group (104.5min vs. 76min, P=.025). The percentage of conversion to open repair was 25%. There was no difference in morbidity between 2 groups, but there were 3 deaths in the open group. Median hospital stay was significantly shorter in patients treated laparoscopically when compared with the open group (6 days vs. 8 days; P=.041). Laparoscopic and open repair are equally safe in the management of PPU. A shorter hospital stay can be achieved in the laparoscopic group. Copyright © 2012 AEC. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Laparoscopic pyloroplasty for perforated peptic ulcer.

PubMed

Grišin, Edvard; Mikalauskas, Saulius; Poškus, Tomas; Jotautas, Valdemaras; Strupas, Kęstutis

2017-09-01

Peptic ulcer is a common disease affecting millions of people every year. Despite improved understanding and treatment of the disease, the number of patients admitted with duodenal peptic ulcer perforation has not decreased. Deaths from peptic ulcer disease overcome other common emergency situations. Laparoscopic repair of the perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) is the gold standard approach for simple perforation. However, in patients with large perforated chronic ulcers laparotomy with pyloroplasty is the standard treatment. It is generally accepted to perform open surgery in PPU emergencies because of the greater knowledge and experience gathered over the past decades and less potential harm for the patient or surgical complications. We present a case of successful laparoscopic pyloroplasty of a perforated duodenal ulcer with stenosis.

Laparoscopic pyloroplasty for perforated peptic ulcer

PubMed Central

Mikalauskas, Saulius; Poškus, Tomas; Jotautas, Valdemaras; Strupas, Kęstutis

2017-01-01

Peptic ulcer is a common disease affecting millions of people every year. Despite improved understanding and treatment of the disease, the number of patients admitted with duodenal peptic ulcer perforation has not decreased. Deaths from peptic ulcer disease overcome other common emergency situations. Laparoscopic repair of the perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) is the gold standard approach for simple perforation. However, in patients with large perforated chronic ulcers laparotomy with pyloroplasty is the standard treatment. It is generally accepted to perform open surgery in PPU emergencies because of the greater knowledge and experience gathered over the past decades and less potential harm for the patient or surgical complications. We present a case of successful laparoscopic pyloroplasty of a perforated duodenal ulcer with stenosis. PMID:29062455

Testing of an Arcjet Thruster with Capability of Direct-Drive Operation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Martin, Adam K.; Polzin, Kurt A.; Eskridge, Richard H.; Smith, James W.; Schoenfeld, Michael P.; Riley, Daniel P.

2015-01-01

Electric thrusters typically require a power processing unit (PPU) to convert the spacecraft provided power to the voltage-current that a thruster needs for operation. Testing has been initiated to study whether an arcjet thruster can be operated directly with the power produced by solar arrays without any additional conversion. Elimination of the PPU significantly reduces system-level complexity of the propulsion system, and lowers developmental cost and risk. The work aims to identify and address technical questions related to power conditioning and noise suppression in the system and heating of the thruster in long-duration operation. The apparatus under investigation has a target power level from 400-1,000 W. However, the proposed direct-drive arcjet is potentially a highly scalable concept, applicable to solar-electric spacecraft with up to 100's of kW and beyond. A direct-drive electric propulsion system would be comprised of a thruster that operates with the power supplied directly from the power source (typically solar arrays) with no further power conditioning needed between those two components. Arcjet thrusters are electric propulsion devices, with the power supplied as a high current at low voltage; of all the different types of electric thruster, they are best suited for direct drive from solar arrays. One advantage of an arcjet over Hall or gridded ion thrusters is that for comparable power the arcjet is a much smaller device and can provide more thrust and orders of magnitude higher thrust density (approximately 1-10 N/sq m), albeit at lower I(sub sp) (approximately 800-1000 s). In addition, arcjets are capable of operating on a wide range of propellant options, having been demonstrated on H2, ammonia, N2, Ar, Kr, Xe, while present SOA Hall and ion thrusters are primarily limited to Xe propellant. Direct-drive is often discussed in terms of Hall thrusters, but they require 250-300 V for operation, which is difficult even with high-voltage solar arrays. The arcjet requires under 100 V, which is more in-line with what is easily possible with a solar array. Direct-drive of an electric propulsion system confers the advantage of reducing or eliminating the power processing unit (PPU) that is typically needed to convert the spacecraft-provided power to the voltage and current needed for thruster operation. Since the PPU is typically the most expensive piece of an electric thruster system, from both a fabrication and qualification standpoint, its elimination offers the potential for major reductions in system cost and risk. The design of the arcjet built for this effort was based on previous low power (1 kW class) arcjets. It has a precision machined 99.95% pure tungsten anode which also serves as the nozzle. The anode constrictor region is 1 mm (0.040-in) diameter and 1 mm (0.040-in) long. The cathode is a tungsten welding electrode doped with LaO2; its tip was precision ground to a 30? angle ending in a blunt end. The two electrodes are separated by a boron-nitride insulator which also serves as the propellant injection manifold; it ends in six small holes which introduce the propellant gas in the diverging section of the nozzle, directly adjacent to the cathode. The electrodes and insulator are housed in a stainless-steel outer-body, with a Macor insulator at the mid-plane to provide thermal isolation between the front and back halves of the device. The gas seals were made using Grafoil gaskets. Figure 1A shows the assembled thruster in the vacuum chamber; figure 1B shows the thruster in operation on argon at a flow rate of 676 sccm (20 mg/s). Initial testing was conducted in a 3.5-ft diameter vacuum chamber; the ultimate pressure reached during quasi-steady operation of the thruster was about 330 millitorr. The thruster was powered with a high-current, 0-100A, 15 kW power supply. The discharge was initiated with a high-voltage (approximately 10 kV) spark initiator that was isolated from the supply by a stack of diodes. The testing indicated that an operating point exists within the I-V characteristics that is compatible with direct-drive solar-electric operation; for a flow rate of 20 mg/s (argon) the arc could be sustained at a voltage of about 20 V and a current of 25 A (500W).

Iodine Satellite

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kamhawi, Hani; Dankanich, John; Martinez, Andres; Petro, Andrew

2015-01-01

The Iodine Satellite (iSat) spacecraft will be the first CubeSat to demonstrate high change in velocity from a primary propulsion system by using Hall thruster technology and iodine as a propellant. The mission will demonstrate CubeSat maneuverability, including plane change, altitude change and change in its closest approach to Earth to ensure atmospheric reentry in less than 90 days. The mission is planned for launch in fall 2017. Hall thruster technology is a type of electric propulsion. Electric propulsion uses electricity, typically from solar panels, to accelerate the propellant. Electric propulsion can accelerate propellant to 10 times higher velocities than traditional chemical propulsion systems, which significantly increases fuel efficiency. To enable the success of the propulsion subsystem, iSat will also demonstrate power management and thermal control capabilities well beyond the current state-of-the-art for spacecraft of its size. This technology is a viable primary propulsion system that can be used on small satellites ranging from about 22 pounds (10 kilograms) to more than 1,000 pounds (450 kilograms). iSat's fuel efficiency is ten times greater and its propulsion per volume is 100 times greater than current cold-gas systems and three times better than the same system operating on xenon. iSat's iodine propulsion system consists of a 200 watt (W) Hall thruster, a cathode, a tank to store solid iodine, a power processing unit (PPU) and the feed system to supply the iodine. This propulsion system is based on a 200 W Hall thruster developed by Busek Co. Inc., which was previously flown using xenon as the propellant. Several improvements have been made to the original system to include a compact PPU, targeting greater than 80 percent reduction in mass and volume of conventional PPU designs. The cathode technology is planned to enable heaterless cathode conditioning, significantly increasing total system efficiency. The feed system has been designed to include iodine compatible control valves with internal heaters and temperature sensors to coincide with the iodine-compatible thruster. A key advantage to using iodine as a propellant is that it may be stored in the tank as an unpressurized solid on the ground and before flight operations. During operations, the tank is heated to vaporize the propellant. Iodine vapor is then routed through custom flow control valves to control mass flow to the thruster and cathode assembly. The thruster then ionizes the vapor and accelerates it via magnetic and electrostatic fields, resulting in high specific impulse, characteristic of a highly efficient propulsion system. The iSat spacecraft is a 12-unit (12U) CubeSat with dimensions of about 8 inches x 8 inches x 12 inches (20 centimeters x 20 centimeters x 30 centimeters). The spacecraft frame will be constructed from aluminum with a finish to prevent iodine-driven corrosion. The iSat spacecraft includes full three-axis control and will leverage heat generated by spacecraft components and radiators for a passive thermal control system. After the CubeSat has successfully detached from its launch vehicle, it will deploy its solar panels, correct for tip-off and maintain attitude control before ground contact. An initial check-out period of two weeks is planned for testing all subsystems. The spacecraft will charge the power system while in sunlight, using momentum wheels and magnetic torque rods to rotate the vehicle to the required attitude.

Comparison of features and outcomes of perforated peptic ulcer between Malaysians and foreigners.

PubMed

Kugan, V; Mahadevan, D T; Kandasami, P

2016-02-01

Perforated peptic ulcers (PPU) present as serious surgical emergencies that carry high mortality and morbidity. Foreigners with PPU are also managed in our hospital setting. Their inclusion significantly alters the trend and pattern of PPU seen in Malaysia. To compare per-operative and post-operative features and outcomes of perforated peptic ulcers between Malaysians and foreigners. This was an analytical crosssectional study. All patients who underwent repair of perforated peptic ulcer disease during a 6-year period were included. 50 consecutive patients' records with perforated peptic ulcer were analysed. Data were collected from operation theatre database and hospital medical records. Chi square and t test were performed using SPSS statistical software. Total of 50 patients, of which 30 were Malaysians and 20 were foreigners. The mean age of Malaysian patients was 58.3 ± 15.2 years whereas the mean age for foreign patients was 30.3 ± 6.7 years, with foreign patients being significantly younger than local patients. Foreigners had significantly smaller ulcers with only 5% of them having ulcers more than 1cm while 36.7% of Malaysian patients had ulcers more than 1cm. Post-operative complications are significantly higher in Malaysian patients (p<0.05) with 40% of Malaysian patients and 10% of foreign patients developing post-operative complications. Foreign patients are younger with significantly smaller perforated ulcers and better post-operative outcomes.

Direct Drive Solar-Powered Arcjet Thruster

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Polzin, Kurt; Martin, Adam

2015-01-01

Electric thrusters typically require a power processing unit (PPU) to convert the spacecraft-provided power to the voltage and current that a thruster needs for operation. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center has initiated fundamental studies on whether an arcjet thruster can be operated directly with the power produced by solar arrays without any additional conversion. Elimination of the PPU significantly reduces system-level complexity of the propulsion system, and lowers developmental cost and risk. The proposed work will aim to refine the proof-of-concept presently being assembled and begin to identify and address technical questions related to power conditioning and noise suppression in the system, and heating of the thruster in long-duration operation. The apparatus proposed for investigation has a target power level of 400 to 1,000 W. The proposed direct-drive arcjet is potentially a highly scalable concept, applicable to spacecraft with up to hundreds of kilowatts and beyond. The design of the arcjet built for this effort was based on previous low power (1 kW class) arcjets.1-3 It has a precision machined 99.95% pure tungsten anode that also serves as the nozzle with a 0.040-in- (1-mm-) diameter, 0.040-in-long constrictor region. An additional anode with a 0.020-in- (0.5-mm-) diameter, 0.020-inlong constrictor region was purchased, but has not yet been used. The cathode is a 0.125-in-diameter tungsten welding electrode doped with lanthum-oxygen; its tip was precision ground to a 308deg angle and terminates in a blunt end. The two electrodes are separated by a boron-nitride insulator that also serves as the propellant manifold; it ends in six small holes which introduce the propellant gas in the diverging section of the nozzle, directly adjacent to the cathode. The electrodes and insulator are housed in a stainless-steel outer body, with a Macor insulator at the mid-plane to provide thermal isolation between the front and back halves of the device. The gas seals were made using Grafoil gaskets. Figure 1(a) shows the assembled thruster; figure 1(b) shows the thruster in the vacuum chamber with electrical and propellant connections.

Peritonitis from perforated peptic ulcer and immune response.

PubMed

Schietroma, Mario; Piccione, Federica; Carlei, Francesco; Sista, Federico; Cecilia, Emanuela Marina; Amicucci, Gianfranco

2013-10-01

Elevated intra-abdominal pressure during the laparoscopy may promote bacteremia, endotoxemia, and systemic inflammatory response. In patients with generalized peritonitis from perforated peptic ulcer (PPU), we sought to compare acute phase response, immunologic status, and bacterial translocation from laparoscopic and open approach. From July 2005 to September 2011, 115 consecutive patients underwent peptic ulcer repair for PPU: 58 cases laparoscopic peptic ulcer repair (LR) and 57 cases open peptic ulcer repair (OR). Bacteremia, endotoxemia, white blood cells population, human leukocyte antigen-DR (HLA-DR), neutrophil-elastase, interleukin-1 and 6 (IL-1 and IL-6), and C-reactive protein (CRP) were investigated. Patients characteristics and grade of peritoneal contamination were similar in the two groups. One hour after intervention, bacteremia was significantly higher in the "open" group than in the laparoscopic group (p < .001). A significantly higher concentration of systemic endotoxin was detected intraoperatively in the "open" group of patients in comparison to the laparoscopic group (p < .0001). Laparotomy caused a significant increase in neutrophil concentration, neutrophil-elastase, IL-1 and IL-6, CRP, and decrease of HLA-DR. We recorded six cases (10.3%) of intra-abdominal abscess in the "open" group and one (1.7%) in laparoscopic group (p < .001). OR, in case of peritonitis after PPU, increased the incidence of bacteremia, endotoxemia, and systemic inflammation compared with LR. Early enhanced postoperative systemic inflammation may cause lower transient immunologic defense after laparotomy (decrease of HLA-DR), leading to enhanced sepsis in these patients.

Laparoscopic Repair for Perforated Peptic Ulcer: A Retrospective Study.

PubMed

Vărcuş, Flore; Beuran, Mircea; Lica, Ioan; Turculet, Claudiu; Cotarlet, Adrian Valentin; Georgescu, Stefan; Vintila, Dan; Sabău, Dan; Sabau, Alexandru; Ciuce, Constantin; Bintintan, Vasile; Georgescu, Eugen; Popescu, Razvan; Tarta, Cristi; Surlin, Valeriu

2017-04-01

The incidence of patients presenting with perforated peptic ulcers (PPU) has decreased during the last decades. At the same time, a laparoscopic approach to this condition has been adopted by increased number of surgeons. The aim of this study was to evaluate the early postoperative results of the laparoscopic treatment of perforated peptic ulcer performed in eight Romanian surgical centers with extensive experience in laparoscopic surgery. Between 2009 and 2013, 297 patients with perforated peptic ulcer were operated in the eight centers participating in this retrospective study. The patients' charts were reviewed for demographics, surgical procedure, complications and short-term outcomes. Boey score of 0 was found in 122 patients (41.1%), Boey 1 in 169 (56.9%), Boey 3 in 6 (2.0%). For 145 (48.8%) patients, primary suture repair was performed, in 146 (49.2%) primary suture repair with omentopexy. There were 6 (2.0%) conversions to open surgery. The operative time was between 25 and 120 min, with a mean of 68 min. Two (0.7%) deaths were noted. Mean hospital stay was 5.5 days, ranges 3-25 days. Postoperative complications included: 7 (2.4%) superficial surgical site infections, 5 (1.6%) cardiovascular, 3 (1.0%) pulmonary, 2 (0.7%) duodenal leakages, 3 (1.0%) deep space infections and 1 (0.3%) upper digestive hemorrhage. This study shows that the laparoscopic approach for PPU is feasible; the procedure is safe, with no increased risk of duodenal fistulae or residual intraperitoneal abscesses. We now consider the laparoscopic approach for PPU as the "gold standard" in patients with Boey score 0 or 1.

A Thruster Sub-System Module (TSSM) for solar electric propulsion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sharp, G. R.

1975-01-01

Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) is currently being studied for possible use in a number of near-earth and planetary missions. Thruster systems for these missions could be integrated directly into a spacecraft or modularized into a Thruster Sub-System Module (TSSM). A TSSM for electric propulsion missions would consist of a 30-cm ion thruster, thruster gimbal system, propellant storage and feed system, associated Power Processing Unit (PPU), thermal control system and complete supporting structure. The TSSM would be wholly self-contained and be essentially a plug-in or strap-on electric stage with simple mechanical, thermal, electrical and propellant interfaces. The TSSM described in this report is designed for a broad range of missions requiring from two to ten TSSM's mounted in a 2 by x configuration. The thermal control system is designed to accommodate waste heat from the power processor based on realistic efficiencies when the TSSM is operating from 0.7 to 3.5 AU's. The modules are 0.61 M (2 ft) wide by 2.29 M (7.5 ft) long and have a dry weight including propellant tank of 54.4 kg (120 lb). The propellant tank will hold 145.1 kg (320 lb) of mercury.

Surgical complications after open and laparoscopic surgery for perforated peptic ulcer in a nationwide cohort.

PubMed

Wilhelmsen, M; Møller, M H; Rosenstock, S

2015-03-01

Surgery for perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) is associated with a risk of complications. The frequency and severity of reoperative surgery is poorly described. The aims of the present study were to characterize the frequency, procedure-associated risk and mortality associated with reoperation after surgery for PPU. All patients treated surgically for PPU in Denmark between 2011 and 2013 were included. Baseline and clinical data, including 90-day mortality and detailed information on reoperative surgery, were collected from the Danish Clinical Register of Emergency Surgery. Distribution frequencies of reoperation stratified by type of surgical approach (laparoscopy or open) were reported. The crude and adjusted risk associations between surgical approach and reoperation were assessed by regression analysis and reported as odds ratio (OR) with 95 per cent c.i. Sensitivity analyses were carried out. A total of 726 patients were included, of whom 238 (32·8 per cent) were treated laparoscopically and 178 (24·5 per cent) had a laparoscopic procedure converted to laparotomy. Overall, 124 (17·1 per cent) of 726 patients underwent reoperation. A persistent leak was the most frequent cause (43 patients, 5·9 per cent), followed by wound dehiscence (34, 4·7 per cent). The crude risk of reoperative surgery was higher in patients who underwent laparotomy and those with procedures converted to open surgery than in patients who had laparoscopic repair: OR 1·98 (95 per cent c.i. 1·19 to 3·27) and 2·36 (1·37 to 4·08) respectively. The difference was confirmed when adjusted for age, surgical delay, co-morbidity and American Society of Anesthesiologists fitness grade. However, the intention-to-treat sensitivity analysis (laparoscopy including conversions) demonstrated no significant difference in risk. The risk of death within 90 days was greater in patients who had reoperation: crude and adjusted OR 1·53 (1·00 to 2·34) and 1·06 (0·65 to 1·72) respectively. Reoperation was necessary in almost one in every five patients operated on for PPU. Laparoscopy was associated with lower risk of reoperation than laparotomy or a converted procedure. However, there was a risk of bias, including confounding by indication. © 2015 BJS Society Ltd Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

High-Efficiency Nested Hall Thrusters for Robotic Solar System Exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hofer, Richard R.

2013-01-01

This work describes the scaling and design attributes of Nested Hall Thrusters (NHT) with extremely large operational envelopes, including a wide range of throttleability in power and specific impulse at high efficiency (>50%). NHTs have the potential to provide the game changing performance, powerprocessing capabilities, and cost effectiveness required to enable missions that cannot otherwise be accomplished. NHTs were first identified in the electric propulsion community as a path to 100- kW class thrusters for human missions. This study aimed to identify the performance capabilities NHTs can provide for NASA robotic and human missions, with an emphasis on 10-kW class thrusters well-suited for robotic exploration. A key outcome of this work has been the identification of NHTs as nearly constant-efficiency devices over large power throttling ratios, especially in direct-drive power systems. NHT systems sized for robotic solar system exploration are predicted to be capable of high-efficiency operation over nearly their entire power throttling range. A traditional Annular Hall Thruster (AHT) consists of a single annular discharge chamber where the propellant is ionized and accelerated. In an NHT, multiple annular channels are concentrically stacked. The channels can be operated in unison or individually depending on the available power or required performance. When throttling an AHT, performance must be sacrificed since a single channel cannot satisfy the diverse design attributes needed to maintain high thrust efficiency. NHTs can satisfy these requirements by varying which channels are operated and thereby offer significant benefits in terms of thruster performance, especially under deep power throttling conditions where the efficiency of an AHT suffers since a single channel can only operate efficiently (>50%) over a narrow power throttling ratio (3:1). Designs for 10-kW class NHTs were developed and compared with AHT systems. Power processing systems were considered using either traditional Power Processing Units (PPU) or Direct Drive Units (DDU). In a PPU-based system, power from the solar arrays is transformed from the low voltage of the arrays to the high voltage needed by the thruster. In a DDU-based system, power from the solar arrays is fed to the thruster without conversion. DDU-based systems are attractive for their simplicity since they eliminate the most complex and expensive part of the propulsion system. The results point to the strong potential of NHTs operating with either PPUs or DDUs to benefit robotic and human missions through their unprecedented power and specific impulse throttling capabilities. NHTs coupled to traditional PPUs are predicted to offer high-efficiency (>50%) power throttling ratios 320% greater than present capabilities, while NHTs with direct-drive power systems (DDU) could exceed existing capabilities by 340%. Because the NHT-DDU approach is implicitly low-cost, NHT-DDU technology has the potential to radically reduce the cost of SEP-enabled NASA missions while simultaneously enabling unprecedented performance capability.

Genetic mapping of the female mimic morph locus in the ruff

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Ruffs (Aves: Philomachus pugnax) possess a genetic polymorphism for male mating behaviour resulting in three permanent alternative male reproductive morphs: (i) territorial ‘Independents’, (ii) non-territorial ‘Satellites’, and (iii) female-mimicking ‘Faeders’. Development into independent or satellite morphs has previously been shown to be due to a single-locus, two-allele autosomal Mendelian mode of inheritance at the Satellite locus. Here, we use linkage analysis to map the chromosomal location of the Faeder locus, which controls development into the Faeder morph, and draw further conclusions about candidate genes, assuming shared synteny with other birds. Results Segregation data on the Faeder locus were obtained from captive-bred pedigrees comprising 64 multi-generation families (N = 381). There was no evidence that the Faeder locus was linked to the Satellite locus, but it was linked with microsatellite marker Ppu020. Comparative mapping of ruff microsatellite markers against the chicken (Gallus gallus) and zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) genomes places the Ppu020 and Faeder loci on a region of chromosome 11 that includes the Melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) gene, which regulates colour polymorphisms in numerous birds and other vertebrates. Melanin-based colouration varies with life-history strategies in ruffs and other species, thus the MC1R gene is a strong candidate to play a role in alternative male morph determination. Conclusion Two unlinked loci appear to control behavioural development in ruffs. The Faeder locus is linked to Ppu020, which, assuming synteny, is located on avian chromosome 11. MC1R is a candidate gene involved in alternative male morph determination in ruffs. PMID:24256185

Laparoscopic correction of perforated peptic ulcer: first choice? A review of literature.

PubMed

Bertleff, Mariëtta J O E; Lange, Johan F

2010-06-01

Perforated peptic ulcer (PPU), despite antiulcer medication and Helicobacter eradication, is still the most common indication for emergency gastric surgery associated with high morbidity and mortality. Outcome might be improved by performing this procedure laparoscopically, but there is no consensus on whether the benefits of laparoscopic closure of perforated peptic ulcer outweigh the disadvantages such as prolonged surgery time and greater expense. An electronic literature search was done by using PubMed and EMBASE databases. Relevant papers written between January 1989 and May 2009 were selected and scored according to Effective Public Health Practice Project guidelines. Data were extracted from 56 papers, as summarized in Tables 1-7. The overall conversion rate for laparoscopic correction of perforated peptic ulcer was 12.4%, with main reason for conversion being the diameter of perforation. Patients presenting with PPU were predominantly men (79%), with an average age of 48 years. One-third had a history of peptic ulcer disease, and one-fifth took nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Only 7% presented with shock at admission. There seems to be no consensus on the perfect setup for surgery and/or operating technique. In the laparoscopic groups, operating time was significant longer and incidence of recurrent leakage at the repair site was higher. Nonetheless there was significant less postoperative pain, lower morbidity, less mortality, and shorter hospital stay. There are good arguments that laparoscopic correction of PPU should be first treatment of choice. A Boey score of 3, age over 70 years, and symptoms persisting longer than 24 h are associated with higher morbidity and mortality and should be considered contraindications for laparoscopic intervention.

Perforated peptic ulcer: clinical presentation, surgical outcomes, and the accuracy of the Boey scoring system in predicting postoperative morbidity and mortality.

PubMed

Lohsiriwat, Varut; Prapasrivorakul, Siriluck; Lohsiriwat, Darin

2009-01-01

The purposes of this study were to determine clinical presentations and surgical outcomes of perforated peptic ulcer (PPU), and to evaluate the accuracy of the Boey scoring system in predicting mortality and morbidity. We carried out a retrospective study of patients undergoing emergency surgery for PPU between 2001 and 2006 in a university hospital. Clinical presentations and surgical outcomes were analyzed. Adjusted odds ratio (OR) of each Boey score on morbidity and mortality rate was compared with zero risk score. Receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis was used to compare the predictive ability between Boey score, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) classification, and Mannheim Peritonitis Index (MPI). The study included 152 patients with average age of 52 years (range: 15-88 years), and 78% were male. The most common site of PPU was the prepyloric region (74%). Primary closure and omental graft was the most common procedure performed. Overall mortality rate was 9% and the complication rate was 30%. The mortality rate increased progressively with increasing numbers of the Boey score: 1%, 8% (OR=2.4), 33% (OR=3.5), and 38% (OR=7.7) for 0, 1, 2, and 3 scores, respectively (p<0.001). The morbidity rates for 0, 1, 2, and 3 Boey scores were 11%, 47% (OR=2.9), 75% (OR=4.3), and 77% (OR=4.9), respectively (p<0.001). Boey score and ASA classification appeared to be better than MPI for predicting the poor surgical outcomes. Perforated peptic ulcer is associated with high rates of mortality and morbidity. The Boey risk score serves as a simple and precise predictor for postoperative mortality and morbidity.

Oligomerization of uridine phosphorimidazolides on montmorillonite: a model for the prebiotic synthesis of RNA on minerals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ding, P. Z.; Kawamura, K.; Ferris, J. P.

1996-01-01

The 5'-phosphorimidazolide of uridine reacts on Na(+)-montmorillonite 22A in aqueous solution to give oligomers as long as 7 mers. The maximum chain length increases to 9 mers and the overall oligomer yield increases when 9:1 ImpU, A5' ppA mixtures react under the same conditions. The oligomer yield and maximum chain length decreases with the structure of the added pyrophosphate in the order A5' ppA > A5' ppU > U5' ppU. Structure analysis of individual oligomer fractions was performed by selective enzymatic hydrolyses followed by HPLC analysis of the products. The regioselectivity for 3',5'-bond formation is 80-90% in the 9:1 ImpU, A5' ppA reaction, a percentage comparable to that observed in the 9:1 ImpA, A5' ppA reaction. Oligomerization of ImpU is inhibited by addition of dA5' ppdA, and MeppA. No oligomers containing A5' ppU were products of the 9:1 ImpU,A5' ppA reaction, a finding consistent with the simple addition of the ImpU to the A5' ppA and not the rearrangement of an ImpU-A5' ppA adduct. Concentrations of lysine or arginine which were close to that of the ImpU did not inhibit oligomer formation. Treatment of Na(+)-montmorillonite with 1 M arginine yielded arginine-montmorillonite, an amino acid-mineral adduct which did not catalyze ImpU oligomerization. Neither the 4-9 mers formed in the 9:1 ImpU, A5' ppA reaction nor the 4-9 mers formed by the base hydrolysis of poly(U) served as templates for the formation of oligo(A)s.

Supplemental Peri-Operative Oxygen and Incision Site Infection after Surgery for Perforated Peptic Ulcer: A Randomized, Double-Blind Monocentric Trial.

PubMed

Schietroma, Mario; Cecilia, Emanuela Marina; De Santis, Giuseppe; Carlei, Francesco; Pessia, Beatrice; Amicucci, Gianfranco

2016-02-01

The clinical role of hyperoxia for preventing surgical site infection (SSI) remains uncertain because randomized controlled trials on this topic have reported disparate results. One of the principal reasons for this outcome may be that prior trials have entered heterogeneous populations of patients and a variety of procedures. The aim of our study was to assess the influence of hyperoxygenation on SSI using a homogeneous study population. From January 2004 to April 2013, we studied, in a randomized trial, 239 patients, who underwent open surgery for perforated peptic ulcer (PPU). The surgical procedure was performed through an upper abdominal midline incision, and closure of PPU was achieved by suture alone or in combination with an omental patch. Patients were assigned randomly to an oxygen/air mixture with a fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2) of 30% (n = 120) or 80% (n = 119). Administration was commenced after induction of anesthesia and maintained for 6 hours after surgery. The overall incision infection rate was 38.4% (92 of 239): 61 patients (50.8%) had an infection in the 30% FiO2 group and 31 (26%) in the 80% FiO2 group (p < 0.05). The risk of SSI was 48% lower in the 80% FiO2 group (relative risk 0.51; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.28-1.08) vs 30% FiO2. Supplemental 80% FiO2 during and for 6 h after open surgery for PPU, which reduces post-operative SSI, should be considered part of ongoing quality improvement activities related to surgical care, with few risks to the patient and little associated cost.

Body mass index is not associated with reoperation rates in patients with a surgically treated perforated peptic ulcer.

PubMed

Duch, Patricia; Møller, Morten Hylander

2015-03-01

The aim of the present nationwide Danish cohort study was to examine the association between body mass index (BMI) and reoperation in patients who are sur-gically treated for perforated peptic ulcer (PPU). This was a nationwide cohort study of all Danish patients who were surgically treated for benign gastric or duodenal PPU between 2011 and 2013. reoperation within 30 days of the primary surgical procedure and 90-day survival. The association between BMI and reoperation are presented as crude and adjusted odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). A total of 726 patients were included. The median age was 69.5 years (range: 18.2-101.7 years), 51.4% were women (n = 373), 78.4% (n = 569) of the patients had at least one co-existing disease, and 47.5% (n = 345) were categorised as American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) class ≥ 3. Re-operative surgery was done in 124 patients (17.1%). No statistically significant adjusted association between underweight, overweight or obesity and re-operation was found (adjusted OR (95% CI): 0.456 (0.181-1.148), 1.468 (0.857-2.517), and 1.314 (0.663-2.601), respectively). Patients undergoing reoperative surgery had a statistically significantly lower crude 90-day survival than patients without need of reperative surgery; 63.9% (83/124) versus 75.9% (457/602), p = 0.037. In the present nationwide cohort study of PPU patients, no statistically significantly adjusted correlation between BMI and re-operation rates was found. Patients undergoing reoperative surgery had a decreased 90-day survival. not relevant. not relevant.

Laparoscopic correction of perforated peptic ulcer: first choice? A review of literature

PubMed Central

Lange, Johan F.

2009-01-01

Background Perforated peptic ulcer (PPU), despite antiulcer medication and Helicobacter eradication, is still the most common indication for emergency gastric surgery associated with high morbidity and mortality. Outcome might be improved by performing this procedure laparoscopically, but there is no consensus on whether the benefits of laparoscopic closure of perforated peptic ulcer outweigh the disadvantages such as prolonged surgery time and greater expense. Methods An electronic literature search was done by using PubMed and EMBASE databases. Relevant papers written between January 1989 and May 2009 were selected and scored according to Effective Public Health Practice Project guidelines. Results Data were extracted from 56 papers, as summarized in Tables 1–7. The overall conversion rate for laparoscopic correction of perforated peptic ulcer was 12.4%, with main reason for conversion being the diameter of perforation. Patients presenting with PPU were predominantly men (79%), with an average age of 48 years. One-third had a history of peptic ulcer disease, and one-fifth took nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Only 7% presented with shock at admission. There seems to be no consensus on the perfect setup for surgery and/or operating technique. In the laparoscopic groups, operating time was significant longer and incidence of recurrent leakage at the repair site was higher. Nonetheless there was significant less postoperative pain, lower morbidity, less mortality, and shorter hospital stay. Conclusion There are good arguments that laparoscopic correction of PPU should be first treatment of choice. A Boey score of 3, age over 70 years, and symptoms persisting longer than 24 h are associated with higher morbidity and mortality and should be considered contraindications for laparoscopic intervention. PMID:20033725

Integration of a MicroCAT Propulsion System and a PhoneSat Bus into a 1.5U CubeSat

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Agasid, Elwood Floyd; Perez, Andres Dono; Gazulla, Oriol Tintore; Trinh, Greenfield Tran; Uribe, Eddie Anthony; Keidar, Michael; Haque, Samudra; Teel, George

2014-01-01

NASA Ames Research Center and the George Washington University have developed an electric propulsion subsystem that can be integrated into the PhoneSat bus. Experimental tests have shown a reliable performance by firing three different thrusters at various frequencies in vacuum conditions. The three thrusters were controlled by a SmartPhone that was running the PhoneSat software. The subsystem is fully operational and it requires low average power to function (about 0.1 W). The interface consists of a microcontroller that sends a trigger pulses to the PPU (Plasma Processing Unit), which is responsible for the thruster operation. Frequencies ranging from 1 to 50Hz have been tested, showing a strong flexibility. A SmartPhone acts as the main user interface for the selection of commands that control the entire system. The micro cathode arc thruster MicroCAT provides a high 1(sub sp) of 3000s that allows a 4kg satellite to obtain a (delta)V of 300m/s. The system mass is only 200g with a total of volume of 200(cu cm). The propellant is based on a solid cylinder made of Titanium, which is the cathode at the same time. This simplicity in the design avoids miniaturization and manufacturing problems. The characteristics of this thruster allow an array of MicroCATs to perform attitude control and orbital correcton maneuvers that will open the door for the implementation of an extensive collection of new mission concepts and space applications for CubeSats. NASA Ames is currently working on the integration of the system to fit the thrusters and PPU inside a 1.5U CubeSat together with the PhoneSat bus into a 1.5U CubeSat. This satellite is intended to be deployed from the ISS in 2015 and test the functionality of the thrusters by spinning the satellite around its long axis and measure the rotational speed with the phone byros. This test flight will raise the TRL of the propulsion system from 5 to 7 and will be a first test for further CubeSats with propulsion systems, a key subsystem for long duration or interplanetary CubeSat missions.

THOR Ion Mass Spectrometer (IMS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Retinò, Alessandro

2017-04-01

Turbulence Heating ObserveR (THOR) is the first mission ever flown in space dedicated to plasma turbulence. The Ion Mass Spectrometer (IMS) onboard THOR will provide the first high-time resolution measurements of mass-resolved ions in near-Earth space, focusing on hot ions in the foreshock, shock and magnetosheath turbulent regions. These measurements are required to study how kinetic-scale turbulent fluctuations heat and accelerate different ion species. IMS will measure the full three-dimensional distribution functions of main ion species (H+, He++, O+) in the energy range 10 eV/q to 30 keV/q with energy resolution DE/E down to 10% and angular resolution down to 11.25˚ . The time resolution will be 150 ms for O+, 300 ms for He++ and ˜ 1s for O+, which correspond to ion scales in the the foreshock, shock and magnetosheath regions. Such high time resolution is achieved by mounting four identical IMS units phased by 90˚ in the spacecraft spin plane. Each IMS unit combines a top-hat electrostatic analyzer with deflectors at the entrance together with a time-of-flight section to perform mass selection. Adequate mass-per-charge resolution (M/q)/(ΔM/q) (≥ 8 for He++ and ≥ 3 for O+) is obtained through a 6 cm long Time-of-Flight (TOF) section. IMS electronics includes a fast sweeping high voltage board that is required to make measurements at high cadence. Ion detection includes Micro Channel Plates (MCPs) combined with Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) for charge amplification and discrimination and a discrete Time-to-Amplitude Converter (TAC) to determine the ion time of flight. A processor board will be used to for ion events formatting and will interface with the Particle Processing Unit (PPU), which will perform data processing for THOR particle detectors. The IMS instrument is being designed and will be built and calibrated by an international consortium of scientific institutes from France, USA, Germany and Japan and Switzerland.

THOR Fields and Wave Processor - FWP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soucek, Jan; Rothkaehl, Hanna; Ahlen, Lennart; Balikhin, Michael; Carr, Christopher; Dekkali, Moustapha; Khotyaintsev, Yuri; Lan, Radek; Magnes, Werner; Morawski, Marek; Nakamura, Rumi; Uhlir, Ludek; Yearby, Keith; Winkler, Marek; Zaslavsky, Arnaud

2017-04-01

If selected, Turbulence Heating ObserveR (THOR) will become the first spacecraft mission dedicated to the study of plasma turbulence. The Fields and Waves Processor (FWP) is an integrated electronics unit for all electromagnetic field measurements performed by THOR. FWP will interface with all THOR fields sensors: electric field antennas of the EFI instrument, the MAG fluxgate magnetometer, and search-coil magnetometer (SCM), and perform signal digitization and on-board data processing. FWP box will house multiple data acquisition sub-units and signal analyzers all sharing a common power supply and data processing unit and thus a single data and power interface to the spacecraft. Integrating all the electromagnetic field measurements in a single unit will improve the consistency of field measurement and accuracy of time synchronization. The scientific value of highly sensitive electric and magnetic field measurements in space has been demonstrated by Cluster (among other spacecraft) and THOR instrumentation will further improve on this heritage. Large dynamic range of the instruments will be complemented by a thorough electromagnetic cleanliness program, which will prevent perturbation of field measurements by interference from payload and platform subsystems. Taking advantage of the capabilities of modern electronics and the large telemetry bandwidth of THOR, FWP will provide multi-component electromagnetic field waveforms and spectral data products at a high time resolution. Fully synchronized sampling of many signals will allow to resolve wave phase information and estimate wavelength via interferometric correlations between EFI probes. FWP will also implement a plasma resonance sounder and a digital plasma quasi-thermal noise analyzer designed to provide high cadence measurements of plasma density and temperature complementary to data from particle instruments. FWP will rapidly transmit information about magnetic field vector and spacecraft potential to the particle instrument data processing unit (PPU) via a dedicated digital link. This information will help particle instruments to optimize energy and angular sweeps and calculate on-board moments. FWP will also coordinate the acquisition of high resolution waveform snapshots with very high time resolution electron data from the TEA instrument. This combined wave/particle measurement will provide the ultimate dataset for investigation of wave-particle interactions on electron scales. The FWP instrument shall be designed and built by an international consortium of scientific institutes from Czech Republic, Poland, France, UK, Sweden and Austria.

Effect of ozonation on the reactivity of lignocellulose substrates in enzymatic hydrolyses to sugars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ben'ko, E. M.; Manisova, O. R.; Lunin, V. V.

2013-07-01

The efficiency of pre-treatment of aspen wood with ozone for subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis into sugars is determined by the amount of absorbed ozone. The ozone absorption rate depended on the water content in the sample being ozonized and was maximum at a relative humidity of wood of ˜40%. As a result of ozone pre-treatment, the initial rate of the enzymatic hydrolysis of wood under the action of a cellulase complex increased eightfold, and the maximum yield of sugars increased tenfold depending on the ozone dose. The ozonation at ozone doses of more than 3 mol/PPU (phenylpropane structural unit of lignin) led to a decrease in the yield of sugars because of the oxidative destruction of cellulose and hemicellulose. The alkaline ozonation in 2 and 12% NaOH was inefficient because of the accompanying oxidation of carbohydrates and considerably decreased the yield of sugars.

Emergent laparoscopy in treatment of perforated peptic ulcer: a local experience from a tertiary centre in Saudi Arabia.

PubMed

Wadaani, Hamed Al

2013-03-08

BACKGROUND/ PURPOSE: Perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) is still an existing disease that occurs frequently in the 21st century despite of the wide availability of antiulcer medication and Helicobacter eradication. The current study aimed to evaluate the hypothesis that its outcome might be improved by using the laparoscopy. The outcome of treatment in terms of complications, mortality and hospital stay with relevant to laparoscopy was analyzed. This prospective descriptive study was carried on the period of 3 years from July 2009 till July 2012. All patients with acute abdominal pain that was clinically diagnosed as having perforated peptic ulcer were included. Excluded from this study were those patients with concomitant bleeding from the ulcer and evidence of gastric outlet obstructions. Also excluded were those with evidence of large perforation more than 10 mm and patients with symptoms of more than 36 h durations for fear of septic shock. Forty seven patients were studied out of a total 53 PPU patients; they were 41 males and 6 females with the male to female ratio of 6.8:1. Their age ranged from 19 to 55 years with the mean age of 39.5 ± 8.6 years. Forty five patients were successfully treated by laparoscopy while only 2 cases that were early presented with signs of hypovolumic shock were converted into laparotomy due to severe bleeding. The mean hospital stay was 75 ± 12.6 h. Post operative complications included death of one patient in the postoperative period at the Intensive care unit (ICU) plus post operative fever in the 2 patients who underwent laparotomy and it was amenable to treatment. Laparoscopic repair of a perforated peptic ulcer is an amenable and feasible technique within the hands of experienced laparoscopic surgeon when the cases are early and properly diagnosed.

Emergent laparoscopy in treatment of perforated peptic ulcer: a local experience from a tertiary centre in Saudi Arabia

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background/ purpose Perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) is still an existing disease that occurs frequently in the 21st century despite of the wide availability of antiulcer medication and Helicobacter eradication. The current study aimed to evaluate the hypothesis that its outcome might be improved by using the laparoscopy. The outcome of treatment in terms of complications, mortality and hospital stay with relevant to laparoscopy was analyzed. Patients and methods This prospective descriptive study was carried on the period of 3 years from July 2009 till July 2012. All patients with acute abdominal pain that was clinically diagnosed as having perforated peptic ulcer were included. Excluded from this study were those patients with concomitant bleeding from the ulcer and evidence of gastric outlet obstructions. Also excluded were those with evidence of large perforation more than 10 mm and patients with symptoms of more than 36 h durations for fear of septic shock. Results Forty seven patients were studied out of a total 53 PPU patients; they were 41 males and 6 females with the male to female ratio of 6.8:1. Their age ranged from 19 to 55 years with the mean age of 39.5 ± 8.6 years. Forty five patients were successfully treated by laparoscopy while only 2 cases that were early presented with signs of hypovolumic shock were converted into laparotomy due to severe bleeding. The mean hospital stay was 75 ± 12.6 h. Post operative complications included death of one patient in the postoperative period at the Intensive care unit (ICU) plus post operative fever in the 2 patients who underwent laparotomy and it was amenable to treatment. Conclusions Laparoscopic repair of a perforated peptic ulcer is an amenable and feasible technique within the hands of experienced laparoscopic surgeon when the cases are early and properly diagnosed. PMID:23497473

Laparoscopic repair of perforated peptic ulcer: single-center results.

PubMed

Guadagni, Simone; Cengeli, Ismail; Galatioto, Christian; Furbetta, Niccolò; Piero, Vincenzo Lippolis; Zocco, Giuseppe; Seccia, Massimo

2014-08-01

Perforated peptic ulcer (PPU), the most common indication for emergency gastric surgery, is associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. Outcomes might be improved by performing this procedure laparoscopically, but no consensus exists on whether the benefits of laparoscopic repair (LR) of PPU outweigh the disadvantages. From January 2002 to December 2012, 111 patients underwent surgery for perforated ulcer. A "laparoscopy-first" policy was attempted and then applied for 56 patients. The exclusion criteria for LR ruled out patients who had shock at admission, severe cardiorespiratory comorbidities, or a history of supramesocolic surgery. The aim of this study was a retrospective analysis of the 56 patients treated laparoscopically. The patient distribution was 30 men and 26 women, who had a mean age of 59 years (range 19-95 years). The mean ulcer size was 10 mm, and the Mannheim peritonitis index (MPI) was 21. LR was performed for 39 (69.6%) of the 56 patients and included peritoneal lavage, suturing of the perforation, and omental patching. Conversion to laparotomy was necessary in 17 cases (30.4%). The "conversion group" showed significant differences in ulcer size (larger ulcers: 1.9 vs. 0.7 mm; p < 0.01), ulcer-site topography (higher incidence of posterior ulcers: 5 vs. 0; p < 0.01), and MPI score (higher score: 24 vs. 20; p < 0.05). The LR group had a mean operating time of 86 min (range 50-125 min), an in-hospital morbidity rate of 7.6 %, a mortality rate of 2.5%, and a mean hospital stay of 6.7 days (range 5-12 days). None of these patients required reintervention. The results showed that LR for PPU is feasible with acceptable mortality and morbidity rates. Skill in laparoscopic abdominal emergencies is required. Perforations 1.5 cm or larger, posterior duodenal ulcers, and an MPI higher than 25 should be considered the main risk factors for conversion.

41 CFR 101-26.602-5 - Procurement of natural gas from the wellhead and other supply sources.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

...-26.602-5 Procurement of natural gas from the wellhead and other supply sources. (a) Natural gas... natural gas procurements at a facility exceed 20,000 mcf annually and the facility can accept... natural gas shall be forwarded to the Public Utilities Division (PPU), Office of Procurement, General...

41 CFR 101-26.602-5 - Procurement of natural gas from the wellhead and other supply sources.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

...-26.602-5 Procurement of natural gas from the wellhead and other supply sources. (a) Natural gas... natural gas procurements at a facility exceed 20,000 mcf annually and the facility can accept... natural gas shall be forwarded to the Public Utilities Division (PPU), Office of Procurement, General...

NASA's 2004 In-Space Propulsion Refocus Studies for New Frontiers Class Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Witzberger, Kevin E.; Manzella, David; Oh, David; Cupples, Mike

2006-01-01

The New Frontiers (NF) program is designed to provide opportunities to fulfill the science objectives for top priority, medium class missions identified in the Decadal Solar System Exploration Survey. This paper assesses the applicability of the In-Space Propulsion s (ISP) Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) technologies for representative NF class missions that include a Jupiter Polar Orbiter with Probes (JPOP), Comet Surface Sample Return (CSSR), and two different Titan missions. The SEP technologies evaluated include the 7-kW, 4,100-second NASA's Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT), the 3-kW, 2,700-second Hall thruster, and two different NASA Solar Electric Propulsion Technology Readiness (NSTAR) thrusters that are variants of the Deep Space 1 (DS1) thruster. One type of NSTAR, a 2.6-kW, 3,100-second thruster, will be the primary propulsion system for the DAWN mission that is scheduled to launch in 2006; the other is an "enhanced", higher power variant (3.8-kW, 4,100-second) and is so-called because it uses NEXT system components such as the NEXT power processing unit (PPU). The results show that SEP is applicable for the CSSR mission and a Titan Lander mission. In addition, NEXT has improved its applicability for these types of missions by modifying its thruster performance relative to its performance at the beginning of this study.

The Impact of Harness Impedance on Hall Thruster Discharge Oscillations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pinero, Luis R.

2017-01-01

Hall thrusters exhibit characteristic discharge voltage and current oscillations during steady-state operation. The lower frequency breathing-mode current oscillations are inherent to each thruster and could impact thruster operation and PPU design. The design of the discharge output filter, in particular, the output capacitor is important because it supplies the high peak current oscillations that the thruster demands. However, space-rated, high-voltage capacitors are not readily available and can have significant mass and volume. So, it is important for a PPU designer to know what is the minimum amount of capacitance required to operate a thruster. Through SPICE modeling and electrical measurements on the Hall Effect Rocket with Magnetic Shielding (HERMeS) thruster, it was shown that the harness impedance between the power supply and the thruster is the main contributor towards generating voltage ripple at the thruster. Also, increasing the size of the discharge filter capacitor, as previously implemented during thruster tests, does not reduce the voltage oscillations. The electrical characteristics of the electrical harness between the discharge supply and the thruster is crucial to system performance and could have a negative impact on performance, life and operation.

Laparoscopic repair of perforated peptic ulcer.

PubMed

Varcus, Flore; Paun, Ion; Duta, Ciprian; Dobrescu, Amadeus; Frandes, Mirela; Tarta, Cristi

2018-04-01

Perforations of the peptic ulcers (PPUs) are the most common cause of emergency surgery among the complications of the gastroduodenal ulcers and the leading cause for morbidity and mortality due to secondary peritonitis and sepsis. PPU is a condition in which laparoscopic perforation repair (LPR) is an optimal solution. It makes possible the identification of the perforation's site and allows closure of the perforation and the subsequent peritoneal lavage, as in an open repair (OR) but without the large upper mid-abdominal incision. The main objective of this review was to evaluate the latest reported results in the laparoscopic treatment of the PPU. Using PubMed and EMBASE databases between 1989 and June 2017 we did an extensive electronic literature search. The search terms used were "laparoscopic perforated peptic ulcer." Inclusion criteria were all the published studies that reported the outcomes of LPR and LPR compared with OR for PPU were included in the analysis. The exclusion criteria included animal or laboratory studies, pediatric surgery trials, papers reporting less than 30 cases of LPR, clinical trials without major outcomes, and other language then English. There were 32 studies included, counting 3488 patients with LPR and 5208 with OR. OR patients had more frequent shock at admission and had a higher ASA risk class. LPR patients had shorter hospital stays with two days, morbidity (11.12% vs. 14.71% OR) and mortality (1.95% vs. 8.35% OR) were lower. Leakage was three times higher in LPR arm (2.18% vs. 0.79% OR). Conversion occurred in 4.18% overall. The three primary reasons for conversions were the size of the perforation, the inability to locate the perforation and technical difficulties. LPR showed similar or better results than OR in terms of morbidity, mortality, operation time and hospital stay, caution is needed as the OR patients tend to be more shocked or with higher ASA at presentation. The higher leakage rate after LPR should be addressed in the training of the laparoscopic surgeons or other safety measures should be developed and employed.

Hybrid upwind discretization of nonlinear two-phase flow with gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, S. H.; Efendiev, Y.; Tchelepi, H. A.

2015-08-01

Multiphase flow in porous media is described by coupled nonlinear mass conservation laws. For immiscible Darcy flow of multiple fluid phases, whereby capillary effects are negligible, the transport equations in the presence of viscous and buoyancy forces are highly nonlinear and hyperbolic. Numerical simulation of multiphase flow processes in heterogeneous formations requires the development of discretization and solution schemes that are able to handle the complex nonlinear dynamics, especially of the saturation evolution, in a reliable and computationally efficient manner. In reservoir simulation practice, single-point upwinding of the flux across an interface between two control volumes (cells) is performed for each fluid phase, whereby the upstream direction is based on the gradient of the phase-potential (pressure plus gravity head). This upwinding scheme, which we refer to as Phase-Potential Upwinding (PPU), is combined with implicit (backward-Euler) time discretization to obtain a Fully Implicit Method (FIM). Even though FIM suffers from numerical dispersion effects, it is widely used in practice. This is because of its unconditional stability and because it yields conservative, monotone numerical solutions. However, FIM is not unconditionally convergent. The convergence difficulties are particularly pronounced when the different immiscible fluid phases switch between co-current and counter-current states as a function of time, or (Newton) iteration. Whether the multiphase flow across an interface (between two control-volumes) is co-current, or counter-current, depends on the local balance between the viscous and buoyancy forces, and how the balance evolves in time. The sensitivity of PPU to small changes in the (local) pressure distribution exacerbates the problem. The common strategy to deal with these difficulties is to cut the timestep and try again. Here, we propose a Hybrid-Upwinding (HU) scheme for the phase fluxes, then HU is combined with implicit time discretization to yield a fully implicit method. In the HU scheme, the phase flux is divided into two parts based on the driving force. The viscous-driven and buoyancy-driven phase fluxes are upwinded differently. Specifically, the viscous flux, which is always co-current, is upwinded based on the direction of the total-velocity. The buoyancy-driven flux across an interface is always counter-current and is upwinded such that the heavier fluid goes downward and the lighter fluid goes upward. We analyze the properties of the Implicit Hybrid Upwinding (IHU) scheme. It is shown that IHU is locally conservative and produces monotone, physically-consistent numerical solutions. The IHU solutions show numerical diffusion levels that are slightly higher than those for standard FIM (i.e., implicit PPU). The primary advantage of the IHU scheme is that the numerical overall-flux of a fluid phase remains continuous and differentiable as the flow regime changes between co-current and counter-current conditions. This is in contrast to the standard phase-potential upwinding scheme, in which the overall fractional-flow (flux) function is non-differentiable across the boundary between co-current and counter-current flows.

Epidemiology of perforated peptic ulcer: Age- and gender-adjusted analysis of incidence and mortality

PubMed Central

Thorsen, Kenneth; Søreide, Jon Arne; Kvaløy, Jan Terje; Glomsaker, Tom; Søreide, Kjetil

2013-01-01

AIM: To investigate the epidemiological trends in incidence and mortality of perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) in a well-defined Norwegian population. METHODS: A retrospective, population-based, single-center, consecutive cohort study of all patients diagnosed with benign perforated peptic ulcer. Included were both gastric and duodenal ulcer patients admitted to Stavanger University Hospital between January 2001 and December 2010. Ulcers with a malignant neoplasia diagnosis, verified by histology after biopsy or resection, were excluded. Patients were identified from the hospitals administrative electronic database using pertinent ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes (K25.1, K25.2, K25.5, K25.6, K26.1, K26.2, K26.5, K26.6). Additional searches using appropriate codes for relevant laparoscopic and open surgical procedures (e.g., JDA 60, JDA 61, JDH 70 and JDH 71) were performed to enable a complete identification of all patients. Patient demographics, presentation patterns and clinical data were retrieved from hospital records and surgical notes. Crude and adjusted incidence and mortality rates were estimated by using national population demographics data. RESULTS: In the study period, a total of 172 patients with PPU were identified. The adjusted incidence rate for the overall 10-year period was 6.5 per 100 000 per year (95%CI: 5.6-7.6) and the adjusted mortality rate for the overall 10-year period was 1.1 per 100 000 per year (95%CI: 0.7-1.6). A non-significant decline in adjusted incidence rate from 9.7 to 5.6 occurred during the decade. The standardized mortality ratio for the whole study period was 5.7 (95%CI: 3.9-8.2), while the total 30-d mortality was 16.3%. No difference in incidence or mortality was found between genders. However, for patients ≥ 60 years, the incidence increased over 10-fold, and mortality more than 50-fold, compared to younger ages. The admission rates outside office hours were high with almost two out of three (63%) admissions seen at evening/night time shifts and/or during weekends. The observed seasonal variations in admissions were not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: The adjusted incidence rate, seasonal distribution and mortality rate was stable. PPU frequently presents outside regular work-hours. Increase in incidence and mortality occurs with older age. PMID:23372356

Epidemiology of perforated peptic ulcer: age- and gender-adjusted analysis of incidence and mortality.

PubMed

Thorsen, Kenneth; Søreide, Jon Arne; Kvaløy, Jan Terje; Glomsaker, Tom; Søreide, Kjetil

2013-01-21

To investigate the epidemiological trends in incidence and mortality of perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) in a well-defined Norwegian population. A retrospective, population-based, single-center, consecutive cohort study of all patients diagnosed with benign perforated peptic ulcer. Included were both gastric and duodenal ulcer patients admitted to Stavanger University Hospital between January 2001 and December 2010. Ulcers with a malignant neoplasia diagnosis, verified by histology after biopsy or resection, were excluded. Patients were identified from the hospitals administrative electronic database using pertinent ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes (K25.1, K25.2, K25.5, K25.6, K26.1, K26.2, K26.5, K26.6). Additional searches using appropriate codes for relevant laparoscopic and open surgical procedures (e.g., JDA 60, JDA 61, JDH 70 and JDH 71) were performed to enable a complete identification of all patients. Patient demographics, presentation patterns and clinical data were retrieved from hospital records and surgical notes. Crude and adjusted incidence and mortality rates were estimated by using national population demographics data. In the study period, a total of 172 patients with PPU were identified. The adjusted incidence rate for the overall 10-year period was 6.5 per 100 000 per year (95%CI: 5.6-7.6) and the adjusted mortality rate for the overall 10-year period was 1.1 per 100 000 per year (95%CI: 0.7-1.6). A non-significant decline in adjusted incidence rate from 9.7 to 5.6 occurred during the decade. The standardized mortality ratio for the whole study period was 5.7 (95%CI: 3.9-8.2), while the total 30-d mortality was 16.3%. No difference in incidence or mortality was found between genders. However, for patients ≥ 60 years, the incidence increased over 10-fold, and mortality more than 50-fold, compared to younger ages. The admission rates outside office hours were high with almost two out of three (63%) admissions seen at evening/night time shifts and/or during weekends. The observed seasonal variations in admissions were not statistically significant. The adjusted incidence rate, seasonal distribution and mortality rate was stable. PPU frequently presents outside regular work-hours. Increase in incidence and mortality occurs with older age.

Neutral Entrainment Demonstration in a Xenon FRC Thruster Experiment

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-03-01

eee e E E ione e thermalionk k Total K   2 2 1 2 1 2 0 2 0     Electric Propulsion on Light Gases Real plasma-based propulsion systems take...kNECEELFkthermalion kNECEELFk PPUT Neeee Nee         ELFkELFkFF NEkELFk PPU KFF K PPUT NEEE NEE EE E        

Status of Propulsion Technology Development Under the NASA In-space Propulsion Technology Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderson, David; Kamhawi, Hani; Patterson, Mike; Dankanich, John; Pencil, Eric; Pinero, Luis

2014-01-01

Since 2001, the In-Space Propulsion Technology (ISPT) program has been developing and delivering in-space propulsion technologies for NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD). These in-space propulsion technologies are applicable, and potentially enabling for future NASA Discovery, New Frontiers, Flagship and sample return missions currently under consideration. The ISPT program is currently developing technology in three areas that include Propulsion System Technologies, Entry Vehicle Technologies, and Systems Mission Analysis. ISPT's propulsion technologies include: 1) the 0.6-7 kW NASA's Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) gridded ion propulsion system; 2) a 0.3-3.9kW Hall-effect electric propulsion (HEP) system for low cost and sample return missions; 3) the Xenon Flow Control Module (XFCM); 4) ultra-lightweight propellant tank technologies (ULTT); and 5) propulsion technologies for a Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV). The HEP system is composed of the High Voltage Hall Accelerator (HiVHAc) thruster, a power processing unit (PPU), and the XFCM. NEXT and the HiVHAc are throttle-able electric propulsion systems for planetary science missions. The XFCM and ULTT are two component technologies which being developed with nearer-term flight infusion in mind. Several of the ISPT technologies are related to sample return missions needs like: MAV propulsion and electric propulsion. And finally, one focus of the SystemsMission Analysis area is developing tools that aid the application or operation of these technologies on wide variety of mission concepts. This paper provides a brief overview of the ISPT program, describing the development status and technology infusion readiness.

LEO to GEO (and Beyond) Transfers Using High Power Solar Electric Propulsion (HP-SEP)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Loghry, Christopher S.; Oleson, Steven R.; Woytach, Jeffrey M.; Martini, Michael C.; Smith, David A.; Fittje, James E.; Gyekenyesi, John Z.; Colozza, Anthony J.; Fincannon, James; Bogner, Aimee;

Management of perforated peptic ulcer in patients at a teaching hospital.

PubMed

Bin-Taleb, Ali K; Razzaq, Riyadh A; Al-Kathiri, Zaki O

2008-02-01

To explore and analyze the current status in management of patients with perforated peptic ulcers (PPU). A retrospective study carried out at the Surgical Department, Al-Gamhouria Teaching Hospital, Aden, Yemen. Patients admitted with perforated benign peptic ulcers from January 1997 to December 2006 were included in the study. A total of 156 patients, 138 (88.5%) male and 18 (11.5%) female, with an overall mean age of 39.08 years (range 14-75 years) and a higher frequency of PPU was noted in patients 21-40 years (58.3%). The perforated duodenal ulcer and perforated gastric ulcer ratio was 4.38:1. The mean time of presentation was 16.5 hours, and operative intervention after admission was 5.25 hours. Simple perforation closure was used in 91.7% of the patients. Postoperative complication rate was 41% (statistically significant in cases admitted later than 12 hours), wound sepsis making the majority at 55.2%, 6 deaths (3.9%), the correlation with presentation time was not significant. The overall mean post-operative hospitalization period was 12.76 days; 14.7% of the patients stayed more than 3 weeks. Younger patients (21-40 years) were frequently affected. Emphasis should be placed on shortening the time to surgery. Simple closure remains the selected treatment in the majority of patients. Overall post-operative mortality was low (3.9%). Improving the surgical skills, wound care, administrative regulations, hospital environment, and equipment are needed to reduce the high rate of complications.

What is the best predictor of mortality in perforated peptic ulcer disease? A population-based, multivariable regression analysis including three clinical scoring systems.

PubMed

Thorsen, Kenneth; Søreide, Jon Arne; Søreide, Kjetil

2014-07-01

Mortality rates in perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) have remained unchanged. The aim of this study was to compare known clinical factors and three scoring systems (American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), Boey and peptic ulcer perforation (PULP)) in the ability to predict mortality in PPU. This is a consecutive, observational cohort study of patients surgically treated for perforated peptic ulcer over a decade (January 2001 through December 2010). Primary outcome was 30-day mortality. A total of 172 patients were included, of whom 28 (16 %) died within 30 days. Among the factors associated with mortality, the PULP score had an odds ratio (OR) of 18.6 and the ASA score had an OR of 11.6, both with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.79. The Boey score had an OR of 5.0 and an AUC of 0.75. Hypoalbuminaemia alone (≤37 g/l) achieved an OR of 8.7 and an AUC of 0.78. In multivariable regression, mortality was best predicted by a combination of increasing age, presence of active cancer and delay from admission to surgery of >24 h, together with hypoalbuminaemia, hyperbilirubinaemia and increased creatinine values, for a model AUC of 0.89. Six clinical factors predicted 30-day mortality better than available risk scores. Hypoalbuminaemia was the strongest single predictor of mortality and may be included for improved risk estimation.

Laparoscopic repair of perforated peptic ulcer: simple closure versus omentopexy.

PubMed

Lin, Being-Chuan; Liao, Chien-Hung; Wang, Shang-Yu; Hwang, Tsann-Long

2017-12-01

This report presents our experience with laparoscopic repair performed in 118 consecutive patients diagnosed with a perforated peptic ulcer (PPU). We compared the surgical outcome of simple closure with modified Cellan-Jones omentopexy and report the safety and benefit of simple closure. From January 2010 to December 2014, 118 patients with PPU underwent laparoscopic repair with simple closure (n = 27) or omentopexy (n = 91). Charts were retrospectively reviewed for demographic characteristics and outcome. The data were compared by Fisher's exact test, Mann-Whitney U test, Pearson's chi-square test, and the Kruskal-Wallis test. The results were considered statistically significant if P < 0.05. No patients died, whereas three incurred leakage. After matching, the simple closure and omentopexy groups had similarity in sex, systolic blood pressure, pulse rate, respiratory rate, Boey score, Charlson comorbidity index, Mannheim peritonitis index, and leakage. There were statistically significant differences in age, length of hospital stay, perforated size, and operating time. Comparison of the operating time in the ≤4.0 mm and 5.0-12 mm groups revealed that the simple closure took less time than omentopexy in both groups (≤4.0 mm, 76 versus 133 minutes, P < 0.0001; 5.0-12 mm, 97 versus 139.5 minutes; P = 0.006). Compared to the omentopexy, laparoscopic simple closure is a safe procedure and shortens the operating time. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Parallelizing SHA-256, SHA-1 and MD5 and AES on the Cell Broadband Engine

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-10-25

job to SPU 5: wait for DONE signal from SPU 6: end while 7: send DONE signal to SPU Figure 4 : The PPU repeatedly tasks jobs to the SPU and consumes ...processors in IBM’s Cell Broadband Engine for Sony’s Playstation 3. Cryptology ePrint Archive, Report 2007/061, 2007. http://eprint.iacr.org/. [ 4 ] Owen...DO NOT RETURN YOUR FORM TO THE ABOVE ADDRESS. 1. REPORT DATE (DD–MM–YYYY) 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED (From — To) 4 . TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5a

How might the alcohol minimum unit pricing (MUP) impact upon local off-sales shops and the communities which they serve?

PubMed

Forsyth, Alasdair J M; Ellaway, Anne; Davidson, Neil

2014-01-01

The aim of the study was to assess the likely impact of the Scottish Government's proposed alcohol minimum unit pricing (MUP) policy on community off-sales outlets (convenience stores or corner shops), and, in turn, on the local people who purchase drinks at such premises. This research adds to our knowledge by linking sales of alcohol products which will be affected by MUP (e.g. at the proposed 50 ppu) to the types of communities where these are the 'drinks-of-choice'. A survey of independent community off-sales operating within the city of Glasgow, Scotland (n = 271) returned 144 completed questionnaires enquiring about each shop's customer base, best-selling alcohol products and participating shopkeepers' views on MUP. Responses were measured against current alcohol product prices (i.e. whether potentially affected by MUP) and local levels of socio-economic deprivation. Participating shopkeepers were divided in their support for MUP, although more were in favour than against. Support for MUP tended to be rooted in business concerns. A majority reported having at least one best-selling alcohol product which will be affected by the proposed MUP policy at current prices, with the beverages that would be most affected (e.g. white cider) tending to be best-sellers at shops serving deprived communities. MUP is likely to impact most in socio-economically deprived communities. This is also where alcohol-related health and other inequalities are currently greatest.

How Might the Alcohol Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) Impact upon Local Off-Sales Shops and the Communities Which They Serve?

PubMed Central

Forsyth, Alasdair J.M.; Ellaway, Anne; Davidson, Neil

2014-01-01

Aims: The aim of the study was to assess the likely impact of the Scottish Government's proposed alcohol minimum unit pricing (MUP) policy on community off-sales outlets (convenience stores or corner shops), and, in turn, on the local people who purchase drinks at such premises. This research adds to our knowledge by linking sales of alcohol products which will be affected by MUP (e.g. at the proposed 50 ppu) to the types of communities where these are the ‘drinks-of-choice’. Methods: A survey of independent community off-sales operating within the city of Glasgow, Scotland (n = 271) returned 144 completed questionnaires enquiring about each shop's customer base, best-selling alcohol products and participating shopkeepers' views on MUP. Responses were measured against current alcohol product prices (i.e. whether potentially affected by MUP) and local levels of socio-economic deprivation. Results: Participating shopkeepers were divided in their support for MUP, although more were in favour than against. Support for MUP tended to be rooted in business concerns. A majority reported having at least one best-selling alcohol product which will be affected by the proposed MUP policy at current prices, with the beverages that would be most affected (e.g. white cider) tending to be best-sellers at shops serving deprived communities. Conclusion: MUP is likely to impact most in socio-economically deprived communities. This is also where alcohol-related health and other inequalities are currently greatest. PMID:24293505

Status of Propulsion Technology Development Under the NASA In-Space Propulsion Technology Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderson, David; Kamhawi, Hani; Patterson, Mike; Pencil, Eric; Pinero, Luis; Falck, Robert; Dankanich, John

2014-01-01

Since 2001, the In-Space Propulsion Technology (ISPT) program has been developing and delivering in-space propulsion technologies for NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD). These in-space propulsion technologies are applicable, and potentially enabling for future NASA Discovery, New Frontiers, Flagship and sample return missions currently under consideration. The ISPT program is currently developing technology in three areas that include Propulsion System Technologies, Entry Vehicle Technologies, and Systems/Mission Analysis. ISPT's propulsion technologies include: 1) the 0.6-7 kW NASA's Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) gridded ion propulsion system; 2) a 0.3-3.9kW Halleffect electric propulsion (HEP) system for low cost and sample return missions; 3) the Xenon Flow Control Module (XFCM); 4) ultra-lightweight propellant tank technologies (ULTT); and 5) propulsion technologies for a Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV). The NEXT Long Duration Test (LDT) recently exceeded 50,000 hours of operation and 900 kg throughput, corresponding to 34.8 MN-s of total impulse delivered. The HEP system is composed of the High Voltage Hall Accelerator (HIVHAC) thruster, a power processing unit (PPU), and the XFCM. NEXT and the HIVHAC are throttle-able electric propulsion systems for planetary science missions. The XFCM and ULTT are two component technologies which being developed with nearer-term flight infusion in mind. Several of the ISPT technologies are related to sample return missions needs: MAV propulsion and electric propulsion. And finally, one focus of the Systems/Mission Analysis area is developing tools that aid the application or operation of these technologies on wide variety of mission concepts. This paper provides a brief overview of the ISPT program, describing the development status and technology infusion readiness.

Development of Theoretical Foundations for Description and Analysis of Discrete Information Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

1975-05-07

on work of M. Hack , M.W. Marean, J.M, Myers, and P.M. Shapiro. What is presented is an introduction to a body of methods related to Pngmatic...Program FrPPU910 which creates the Account Validation file (FFPFDS20) from input cards without contacting any other files in the system FP-910 The...34•"■ •""^•"’J«^ *• ^’’•"’»’">* ^’*», *’" \\’, A6. S18 FPU PDS 10 Rcqulslclo.) Master S20 FFPFDS20 Account Validation (used to check thai charges

Effect of Direct Whole-Body Vibration on Upper-Body Muscular Power in Recreational, Resistance-Trained Men.

PubMed

Jones, Margaret T; Martin, Joel R; Jagim, Andrew R; Oliver, Jonathan M

2017-05-01

Jones, MT, Martin, JR, Jagim, AR, and Oliver, JM. Effect of direct whole-body vibration on upper-body muscular power in recreational, resistance-trained men. J Strength Cond Res 31(5): 1371-1377, 2017-To determine the acute effect of whole-body vibration (WBV) on upper-body power, 15 men (mean ± SD; age 21.5 ± 2.3 years; height 173.1 ± 6.5 cm; and weight 77.2 ± 13.8 kg) with ≥1-year resistance training experience and a bench press (BP): body mass ratio ≥1.25 participated in a repeated-measures crossover design. Session 1 included body composition ([Bod Pod] 15.76 ± 6.7% body fat), 3 repetition maximum BP, and familiarization with: seated medicine ball throw (SMBT), plyometric push-up (PPU) on a force plate, and vertical WBV platform. Sessions 2-5 were randomly ordered across condition and test, separated by 24 hours, and consisted of a warm-up followed by 4 × 30-second push-up holds (2 × elbows at 90° and 2 × arms extended) performed on the vibration platform with WBV (frequency: 30 Hz, amplitude: 2-4 mm, 1:1 work: relief ratio) or no WBV. Seated medicine ball throw and PPU were tested immediately, 1, 5, and 10 minutes post. Standardized magnitude-based inferences were used to define outcomes. A likely positive effect of WBV was observed for SMBT at 10 minutes post. A likely negative effect of WBV resulted at 1 minute in time-to-peak force. A possibly positive effect was observed 10 minutes post. A possibly negative effect was observed 10 minutes post for peak power, and a likely negative effect of WBV was observed on time-to-peak power immediate post. Incorporating a 10-minute rest period is recommended when implementing power exercises after upper-body static-hold exercises during WBV exposure.

Laparoscopic versus open repair of perforated peptic ulcer: Improving outcomes utilizing a standardized technique.

PubMed

Siow, Sze Li; Mahendran, Hans Alexander; Wong, Chee Ming; Hardin, Mark; Luk, Tien Loong

2018-03-01

The objective of this study was to compare the outcomes of patients who underwent laparoscopic and open repair of perforated peptic ulcers (PPUs) at our institution. This is a retrospective review of a prospectively collected database of patients who underwent emergency laparoscopic or open repair for PPU between December 2010 and February 2014. A total of 131 patients underwent emergency repair for PPU (laparoscopic repair, n=63, 48.1% vs. open repair, n=68, 51.9%). There were no significant differences in baseline characteristics between both groups in terms of age (p=0.434), gender (p=0.305), body mass index (p=0.180), and presence of comorbidities (p=0.214). Both groups were also comparable in their American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) scores (p=0.769), Boey scores 0/1 (p=0.311), Mannheim Peritonitis Index > 27 (p=0.528), shock on admission (p<0.99), and the duration of symptoms > 24 hours (p=0.857). There was no significant difference in the operating time between the two groups (p=0.618). Overall, the laparoscopic group had fewer complications compared with the open group (14.3% vs. 36.8%, p=0.005). When reviewing specific complications, only the incidence of surgical site infection was statistically significant (laparoscopic 0.0% vs. open 13.2%, p=0.003). The other parameters were not statistically significant. The laparoscopic group did have a significantly shorter mean postoperative stay (p=0.008) and lower pain scores in the immediate postoperative period (p<0.05). Mortality was similar in both groups (open, 1.6% vs. laparoscopic, 2.9%, p < 0.99). Laparoscopic repair resulted in reduced wound infection rates, shorter hospitalization, and reduced postoperative pain. Our single institution series and standardized technique demonstrated lower morbidity rates in the laparoscopic group. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Taiwan.

SNS proton power upgrade

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howell, M.; DeGraff, B.; Galambos, J.; Kim, S.-H.

2017-12-01

The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is preparing for the Proton Power Upgrade (PPU) project to increase the output energy of the accelerator from 1.0 GeV to 1.3 GeV. As part of this project with the combination of increasing the output energy and beam current, the beam power capability will be doubled from 1.4MW to 2.8MW. In this project, seven new high beta cryomodules housing 28 superconducting niobium cavities will be added to the LINAC tunnel. Lessons learned from over ten years of operation will be incorporated into the new cryomodule and cavity design. The design and the fabrication of these cryomodules and how these will be integrated into the existing accelerator will be detailed in this paper.

Micro Cathode Arc Thruster for PhoneSat: Development and Potential Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gazulla, Oriol Tintore; Perez, Andres Dono; Agasid, Elwood; Uribe, Eddie; Trinh, Greenfield; Keidar, Michael; Teel, George; Haque, Samudra; Lukas, Joseph; Salas, Alberto Guillen;

Recent Electric Propulsion Development Activities for NASA Science Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pencil, Eric J.

2009-01-01

(The primary source of electric propulsion development throughout NASA is managed by the In-Space Propulsion Technology Project at the NASA Glenn Research Center for the Science Mission Directorate. The objective of the Electric Propulsion project area is to develop near-term electric propulsion technology to enhance or enable science missions while minimizing risk and cost to the end user. Major hardware tasks include developing NASA s Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT), developing a long-life High Voltage Hall Accelerator (HIVHAC), developing an advanced feed system, and developing cross-platform components. The objective of the NEXT task is to advance next generation ion propulsion technology readiness. The baseline NEXT system consists of a high-performance, 7-kW ion thruster; a high-efficiency, 7-kW power processor unit (PPU); a highly flexible advanced xenon propellant management system (PMS); a lightweight engine gimbal; and key elements of a digital control interface unit (DCIU) including software algorithms. This design approach was selected to provide future NASA science missions with the greatest value in mission performance benefit at a low total development cost. The objective of the HIVHAC task is to advance the Hall thruster technology readiness for science mission applications. The task seeks to increase specific impulse, throttle-ability and lifetime to make Hall propulsion systems applicable to deep space science missions. The primary application focus for the resulting Hall propulsion system would be cost-capped missions, such as competitively selected, Discovery-class missions. The objective of the advanced xenon feed system task is to demonstrate novel manufacturing techniques that will significantly reduce mass, volume, and footprint size of xenon feed systems over conventional feed systems. This task has focused on the development of a flow control module, which consists of a three-channel flow system based on a piezo-electrically actuated valve concept, as well as a pressure control module, which will regulate pressure from the propellant tank. Cross-platform component standardization and simplification are being investigated through the Standard Architecture task to reduce first user costs for implementing electric propulsion systems. Progress on current hardware development, recent test activities and future plans are discussed.

RFA-based 589-nm guide star lasers for ESO VLT: a paradigm shift in performance, operational simplicity, reliability, and maintenance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Friedenauer, Axel; Karpov, Vladimir; Wei, Daoping; Hager, Manfred; Ernstberger, Bernhard; Clements, Wallace R. L.; Kaenders, Wilhelm G.

2012-07-01

Large telescopes equipped with adaptive optics require 20-25W CW 589-nm sources with emission linewidths of ~5 MHz. These Guide Star (GS) lasers should also be highly reliable and simple to operate and maintain for many years at the top of a mountain facility. Under contract from ESO, industrial partners TOPTICA and MPBC are nearing completion of the development of GS lasers for the ESO VLT, with delivery of the first of four units scheduled for December 2012. We report on the design and performance of the fully-engineered Pre-Production Unit (PPU), including system reliability/availability analysis, the successfully-concluded qualification testing, long-term component and system level tests and long-term maintenance and support planning. The chosen approach is based on ESO's patented narrow-band Raman Fiber Amplifier (EFRA) technology. A master oscillator signal from a linearly-polarized TOPTICA 20-mW, 1178-nm CW diode laser, with stabilized emission frequency and controllable linewidth up to a few MHz, is amplified in an MPBC polarization-maintaining (PM) RFA pumped by a high-power 1120-nm PM fiber laser. With efficient stimulated Brillouin scattering suppression, an unprecedented 40W of narrow-band RFA output has been obtained. This is then mode-matched into a resonant-cavity doubler with a free-spectral-range matching the sodium D2a to D2b separation, allowing simultaneous generation of an additional frequency component (D2b line) to re-pump the sodium atom electronic population. With this technique, the return flux can be increased without having to resort to electro-optical modulators and without the risk of introducing optical wave front distortions. The demonstrated output powers with doubling efficiencies >80% at 589 nm easily exceed the 20W design goal and require less than 700 W of electrical power. In summary, the fiber-based guide star lasers provide excellent beam quality and are modular, turn-key, maintenance-free, reliable, efficient, and ruggedized devices whose compactness allows installation directly onto the launch telescope structure.

New Multi-objective Uncertainty-based Algorithm for Water Resource Models' Calibration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keshavarz, Kasra; Alizadeh, Hossein

2017-04-01

Water resource models are powerful tools to support water management decision making process and are developed to deal with a broad range of issues including land use and climate change impacts analysis, water allocation, systems design and operation, waste load control and allocation, etc. These models are divided into two categories of simulation and optimization models whose calibration has been addressed in the literature where great relevant efforts in recent decades have led to two main categories of auto-calibration methods of uncertainty-based algorithms such as GLUE, MCMC and PEST and optimization-based algorithms including single-objective optimization such as SCE-UA and multi-objective optimization such as MOCOM-UA and MOSCEM-UA. Although algorithms which benefit from capabilities of both types, such as SUFI-2, were rather developed, this paper proposes a new auto-calibration algorithm which is capable of both finding optimal parameters values regarding multiple objectives like optimization-based algorithms and providing interval estimations of parameters like uncertainty-based algorithms. The algorithm is actually developed to improve quality of SUFI-2 results. Based on a single-objective, e.g. NSE and RMSE, SUFI-2 proposes a routine to find the best point and interval estimation of parameters and corresponding prediction intervals (95 PPU) of time series of interest. To assess the goodness of calibration, final results are presented using two uncertainty measures of p-factor quantifying percentage of observations covered by 95PPU and r-factor quantifying degree of uncertainty, and the analyst has to select the point and interval estimation of parameters which are actually non-dominated regarding both of the uncertainty measures. Based on the described properties of SUFI-2, two important questions are raised, answering of which are our research motivation: Given that in SUFI-2, final selection is based on the two measures or objectives and on the other hand, knowing that there is no multi-objective optimization mechanism in SUFI-2, are the final estimations Pareto-optimal? Can systematic methods be applied to select the final estimations? Dealing with these questions, a new auto-calibration algorithm was proposed where the uncertainty measures were considered as two objectives to find non-dominated interval estimations of parameters by means of coupling Monte Carlo simulation and Multi-Objective Particle Swarm Optimization. Both the proposed algorithm and SUFI-2 were applied to calibrate parameters of water resources planning model of Helleh river basin, Iran. The model is a comprehensive water quantity-quality model developed in the previous researches using WEAP software in order to analyze the impacts of different water resources management strategies including dam construction, increasing cultivation area, utilization of more efficient irrigation technologies, changing crop pattern, etc. Comparing the Pareto frontier resulted from the proposed auto-calibration algorithm with SUFI-2 results, it was revealed that the new algorithm leads to a better and also continuous Pareto frontier, even though it is more computationally expensive. Finally, Nash and Kalai-Smorodinsky bargaining methods were used to choose compromised interval estimation regarding Pareto frontier.

369 TFlop/s molecular dynamics simulations on the Roadrunner general-purpose heterogeneous supercomputer

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Swaminarayan, Sriram; Germann, Timothy C; Kadau, Kai

2008-01-01

The authors present timing and performance numbers for a short-range parallel molecular dynamics (MD) code, SPaSM, that has been rewritten for the heterogeneous Roadrunner supercomputer. Each Roadrunner compute node consists of two AMD Opteron dual-core microprocessors and four PowerXCell 8i enhanced Cell microprocessors, so that there are four MPI ranks per node, each with one Opteron and one Cell. The interatomic forces are computed on the Cells (each with one PPU and eight SPU cores), while the Opterons are used to direct inter-rank communication and perform I/O-heavy periodic analysis, visualization, and checkpointing tasks. The performance measured for our initial implementationmore » of a standard Lennard-Jones pair potential benchmark reached a peak of 369 Tflop/s double-precision floating-point performance on the full Roadrunner system (27.7% of peak), corresponding to 124 MFlop/Watt/s at a price of approximately 3.69 MFlops/dollar. They demonstrate an initial target application, the jetting and ejection of material from a shocked surface.« less

A Soft-Start Circuit for Arcjet Ignition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hamley, John A.; Sankovic, John M.

1993-01-01

The reduced propellant flow rates associated with high performance arcjets have placed new emphasis on electrode erosion, especially at startup. A soft-start current profile was defined which limited current overshoot during the initial 30 to 50 ms of operation, and maintained significantly lower than the nominal arc current for the first eight seconds of operation. A 2-5 kW arcjet PPU was modified to provide this current profile, and a 500 cycle test using simulated fully decomposed hydrazine was conducted to determine the electrode erosion during startup. Electrode geometry and mass flow rates were selected based on requirements for a 600 second specific impulse mission average arcjet system. The flow rate was varied throughout the test to simulate the blow down of a flight propellant system. Electrode damage was negligible at flow rates above 33 mg/s, and minor chamfering of the constrictor occurred at flow rates of 33 to 30 mg/s, corresponding to flow rates expected in the last 40 percent of the mission. Constrictor diameter remained unchanged and the thruster remained operable at the completion of the test. The soft-start current profile significantly reduced electrode damage when compared to state of the art starting techniques.

Drought prediction using co-active neuro-fuzzy inference system, validation, and uncertainty analysis (case study: Birjand, Iran)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Memarian, Hadi; Pourreza Bilondi, Mohsen; Rezaei, Majid

2016-08-01

This work aims to assess the capability of co-active neuro-fuzzy inference system (CANFIS) for drought forecasting of Birjand, Iran through the combination of global climatic signals with rainfall and lagged values of Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) index. Using stepwise regression and correlation analyses, the signals NINO 1 + 2, NINO 3, Multivariate Enso Index, Tropical Southern Atlantic index, Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation index, and NINO 3.4 were recognized as the effective signals on the drought event in Birjand. Based on the results from stepwise regression analysis and regarding the processor limitations, eight models were extracted for further processing by CANFIS. The metrics P-factor and D-factor were utilized for uncertainty analysis, based on the sequential uncertainty fitting algorithm. Sensitivity analysis showed that for all models, NINO indices and rainfall variable had the largest impact on network performance. In model 4 (as the model with the lowest error during training and testing processes), NINO 1 + 2(t-5) with an average sensitivity of 0.7 showed the highest impact on network performance. Next, the variables rainfall, NINO 1 + 2(t), and NINO 3(t-6) with the average sensitivity of 0.59, 0.28, and 0.28, respectively, could have the highest effect on network performance. The findings based on network performance metrics indicated that the global indices with a time lag represented a better correlation with El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Uncertainty analysis of the model 4 demonstrated that 68 % of the observed data were bracketed by the 95PPU and D-Factor value (0.79) was also within a reasonable range. Therefore, the fourth model with a combination of the input variables NINO 1 + 2 (with 5 months of lag and without any lag), monthly rainfall, and NINO 3 (with 6 months of lag) and correlation coefficient of 0.903 (between observed and simulated SPI) was selected as the most accurate model for drought forecasting using CANFIS in the climatic region of Birjand.

Laparoscopic versus Open Omental Patch Repair for Early Presentation of Perforated Peptic Ulcer: Matched Retrospective Cohort Study.

PubMed

Lee, Daniel Jin Keat; Ye, MaDong; Sun, Keith Haozhe; Shelat, Vishalkumar G; Koura, Aaryan

2016-01-01

Introduction. The aim of this study was to compare the outcomes between laparoscopic and open omental patch repair (LOPR versus OR) in patients with similar presentation of perforated peptic ulcer (PPU). The secondary aim was to evaluate the outcomes according to the severity of peritonitis. Methods. All patients who underwent omental patch repair at two university-affiliated institutes between January 2010 and December 2014 were reviewed. Matched cohort between LOPR and OR groups was achieved by only including patients that had ulcer perforation <2 cm in size and symptoms occurring <48 hours. Outcome measures were defined in accordance with length of stay (LOS), postoperative complications, and mortality. Results. 148 patients met the predefined inclusion criteria with LOPR performed in 40 patients. Outcome measures consistently support laparoscopic approach but only length of hospital stay (LOS) achieved statistical significance (LOPR 4 days versus OR 5 days, p < 0.01). In a subgroup analysis of patients with MPI score >21, LOPR is also shown to benefit, particularly resulting in significant shorter LOS (4 days versus 11 days, p < 0.01). Conclusion. LOPR offers improved short-term outcomes in patients who present within 48 hours and with perforation size <2 cm. LOPR also proved to be more beneficial in high MPI cases.

Laparoscopic versus Open Omental Patch Repair for Early Presentation of Perforated Peptic Ulcer: Matched Retrospective Cohort Study

PubMed Central

Sun, Keith Haozhe; Koura, Aaryan

2016-01-01

Introduction. The aim of this study was to compare the outcomes between laparoscopic and open omental patch repair (LOPR versus OR) in patients with similar presentation of perforated peptic ulcer (PPU). The secondary aim was to evaluate the outcomes according to the severity of peritonitis. Methods. All patients who underwent omental patch repair at two university-affiliated institutes between January 2010 and December 2014 were reviewed. Matched cohort between LOPR and OR groups was achieved by only including patients that had ulcer perforation <2 cm in size and symptoms occurring <48 hours. Outcome measures were defined in accordance with length of stay (LOS), postoperative complications, and mortality. Results. 148 patients met the predefined inclusion criteria with LOPR performed in 40 patients. Outcome measures consistently support laparoscopic approach but only length of hospital stay (LOS) achieved statistical significance (LOPR 4 days versus OR 5 days, p < 0.01). In a subgroup analysis of patients with MPI score >21, LOPR is also shown to benefit, particularly resulting in significant shorter LOS (4 days versus 11 days, p < 0.01). Conclusion. LOPR offers improved short-term outcomes in patients who present within 48 hours and with perforation size <2 cm. LOPR also proved to be more beneficial in high MPI cases. PMID:27722200

Programmable partitioning for high-performance coherence domains in a multiprocessor system

DOEpatents

Blumrich, Matthias A [Ridgefield, CT; Salapura, Valentina [Chappaqua, NY

2011-01-25

A multiprocessor computing system and a method of logically partitioning a multiprocessor computing system are disclosed. The multiprocessor computing system comprises a multitude of processing units, and a multitude of snoop units. Each of the processing units includes a local cache, and the snoop units are provided for supporting cache coherency in the multiprocessor system. Each of the snoop units is connected to a respective one of the processing units and to all of the other snoop units. The multiprocessor computing system further includes a partitioning system for using the snoop units to partition the multitude of processing units into a plurality of independent, memory-consistent, adjustable-size processing groups. Preferably, when the processor units are partitioned into these processing groups, the partitioning system also configures the snoop units to maintain cache coherency within each of said groups.

Reliability and performance of a system-on-a-chip by predictive wear-out based activation of functional components

DOEpatents

Cher, Chen-Yong; Coteus, Paul W; Gara, Alan; Kursun, Eren; Paulsen, David P; Schuelke, Brian A; Sheets, II, John E; Tian, Shurong

2013-10-01

A processor-implemented method for determining aging of a processing unit in a processor the method comprising: calculating an effective aging profile for the processing unit wherein the effective aging profile quantifies the effects of aging on the processing unit; combining the effective aging profile with process variation data, actual workload data and operating conditions data for the processing unit; and determining aging through an aging sensor of the processing unit using the effective aging profile, the process variation data, the actual workload data, architectural characteristics and redundancy data, and the operating conditions data for the processing unit.

Device and method to enhance availability of cluster-based processing systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lupia, David J. (Inventor); Ramos, Jeremy (Inventor); Samson, Jr., John R. (Inventor)

2010-01-01

An electronic computing device including at least one processing unit that implements a specific fault signal upon experiencing an associated fault, a control unit that generates a specific recovery signal upon receiving the fault signal from the at least one processing unit, and at least one input memory unit. The recovery signal initiates specific recovery processes in the at least one processing unit. The input memory buffers input data signals input to the at least one processing unit that experienced the fault during the recovery period.

Maritime Domain Awareness: C4I for the 1000 Ship Navy

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-12-04

unit action, provide unit sensed contacts, coordinate unit operations, process unit information, release image , and release contact report, Figure 33...Intelligence Tasking Request Intelligence Summary Release Unit Person Incident Release Unit Vessel Incident Process Intelligence Tasking Release Image ...xi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Functional Problem Sequence Process Flow. ....................................................4 Figure 2. United

Processing device with self-scrubbing logic

DOEpatents

Wojahn, Christopher K.

2016-03-01

An apparatus includes a processing unit including a configuration memory and self-scrubber logic coupled to read the configuration memory to detect compromised data stored in the configuration memory. The apparatus also includes a watchdog unit external to the processing unit and coupled to the self-scrubber logic to detect a failure in the self-scrubber logic. The watchdog unit is coupled to the processing unit to selectively reset the processing unit in response to detecting the failure in the self-scrubber logic. The apparatus also includes an external memory external to the processing unit and coupled to send configuration data to the configuration memory in response to a data feed signal outputted by the self-scrubber logic.

Processing device with self-scrubbing logic

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wojahn, Christopher K.

An apparatus includes a processing unit including a configuration memory and self-scrubber logic coupled to read the configuration memory to detect compromised data stored in the configuration memory. The apparatus also includes a watchdog unit external to the processing unit and coupled to the self-scrubber logic to detect a failure in the self-scrubber logic. The watchdog unit is coupled to the processing unit to selectively reset the processing unit in response to detecting the failure in the self-scrubber logic. The apparatus also includes an external memory external to the processing unit and coupled to send configuration data to the configurationmore » memory in response to a data feed signal outputted by the self-scrubber logic.« less

15 CFR 971.209 - Processing outside the United States.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Processing outside the United States... Applications Contents § 971.209 Processing outside the United States. (a) Except as provided in this section... contravenes the overriding national interests of the United States. (b) If foreign processing is proposed, the...

15 CFR 971.209 - Processing outside the United States.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 3 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Processing outside the United States... Applications Contents § 971.209 Processing outside the United States. (a) Except as provided in this section... contravenes the overriding national interests of the United States. (b) If foreign processing is proposed, the...

Distributed and recoverable digital control system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stange, Kent (Inventor); Hess, Richard (Inventor); Kelley, Gerald B (Inventor); Rogers, Randy (Inventor)

2010-01-01

A real-time multi-tasking digital control system with rapid recovery capability is disclosed. The control system includes a plurality of computing units comprising a plurality of redundant processing units, with each of the processing units configured to generate one or more redundant control commands. One or more internal monitors are employed for detecting data errors in the control commands. One or more recovery triggers are provided for initiating rapid recovery of a processing unit if data errors are detected. The control system also includes a plurality of actuator control units each in operative communication with the computing units. The actuator control units are configured to initiate a rapid recovery if data errors are detected in one or more of the processing units. A plurality of smart actuators communicates with the actuator control units, and a plurality of redundant sensors communicates with the computing units.

Environmental Engineering Unit Operations and Unit Processes Laboratory Manual.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Connor, John T., Ed.

This manual was prepared for the purpose of stimulating the development of effective unit operations and unit processes laboratory courses in environmental engineering. Laboratory activities emphasizing physical operations, biological, and chemical processes are designed for various educational and equipment levels. An introductory section reviews…

40 CFR 63.100 - Applicability and designation of source.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... manufacturing process unit has two or more products that have the same maximum annual design capacity on a mass... subject to this subpart. (3) For chemical manufacturing process units that are designed and operated as... chemical manufacturing process units that are designed and operated as flexible operation units shall be...

15 CFR 971.427 - Processing outside the United States.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 3 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Processing outside the United States... outside the United States. If appropriate TCRs will incorporate provisions to implement the decision of the Administrator regarding the return of resources processed outside the United States, in accordance...

40 CFR 63.1275 - Glycol dehydration unit process vent standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 12 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Glycol dehydration unit process vent... Storage Facilities § 63.1275 Glycol dehydration unit process vent standards. (a) This section applies to each glycol dehydration unit subject to this subpart that must be controlled for air emissions as...

40 CFR 63.1275 - Glycol dehydration unit process vent standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 12 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Glycol dehydration unit process vent... Storage Facilities § 63.1275 Glycol dehydration unit process vent standards. (a) This section applies to each glycol dehydration unit subject to this subpart that must be controlled for air emissions as...

40 CFR 63.1275 - Glycol dehydration unit process vent standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 12 2012-07-01 2011-07-01 true Glycol dehydration unit process vent... Facilities § 63.1275 Glycol dehydration unit process vent standards. (a) This section applies to each glycol dehydration unit subject to this subpart with an actual annual average natural gas flowrate equal to or...

40 CFR 63.1275 - Glycol dehydration unit process vent standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 11 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Glycol dehydration unit process vent... Facilities § 63.1275 Glycol dehydration unit process vent standards. (a) This section applies to each glycol dehydration unit subject to this subpart with an actual annual average natural gas flowrate equal to or...

40 CFR 63.765 - Glycol dehydration unit process vent standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 11 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Glycol dehydration unit process vent... Facilities § 63.765 Glycol dehydration unit process vent standards. (a) This section applies to each glycol dehydration unit subject to this subpart that must be controlled for air emissions as specified in either...

40 CFR 63.765 - Glycol dehydration unit process vent standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 10 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Glycol dehydration unit process vent... Facilities § 63.765 Glycol dehydration unit process vent standards. (a) This section applies to each glycol dehydration unit subject to this subpart with an actual annual average natural gas flowrate equal to or...

40 CFR 63.765 - Glycol dehydration unit process vent standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 11 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Glycol dehydration unit process vent... Facilities § 63.765 Glycol dehydration unit process vent standards. (a) This section applies to each glycol dehydration unit subject to this subpart that must be controlled for air emissions as specified in either...

40 CFR 63.765 - Glycol dehydration unit process vent standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 10 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Glycol dehydration unit process vent... Facilities § 63.765 Glycol dehydration unit process vent standards. (a) This section applies to each glycol dehydration unit subject to this subpart with an actual annual average natural gas flowrate equal to or...

40 CFR 63.1275 - Glycol dehydration unit process vent standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 11 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Glycol dehydration unit process vent... Facilities § 63.1275 Glycol dehydration unit process vent standards. (a) This section applies to each glycol dehydration unit subject to this subpart with an actual annual average natural gas flowrate equal to or...

40 CFR 63.765 - Glycol dehydration unit process vent standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 11 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Glycol dehydration unit process vent... Facilities § 63.765 Glycol dehydration unit process vent standards. (a) This section applies to each glycol dehydration unit subject to this subpart with an actual annual average natural gas flowrate equal to or...

Failure detection in high-performance clusters and computers using chaotic map computations

DOEpatents

Rao, Nageswara S.

2015-09-01

A programmable media includes a processing unit capable of independent operation in a machine that is capable of executing 10.sup.18 floating point operations per second. The processing unit is in communication with a memory element and an interconnect that couples computing nodes. The programmable media includes a logical unit configured to execute arithmetic functions, comparative functions, and/or logical functions. The processing unit is configured to detect computing component failures, memory element failures and/or interconnect failures by executing programming threads that generate one or more chaotic map trajectories. The central processing unit or graphical processing unit is configured to detect a computing component failure, memory element failure and/or an interconnect failure through an automated comparison of signal trajectories generated by the chaotic maps.

Adaptive-optics optical coherence tomography processing using a graphics processing unit.

PubMed

Shafer, Brandon A; Kriske, Jeffery E; Kocaoglu, Omer P; Turner, Timothy L; Liu, Zhuolin; Lee, John Jaehwan; Miller, Donald T

2014-01-01

Graphics processing units are increasingly being used for scientific computing for their powerful parallel processing abilities, and moderate price compared to super computers and computing grids. In this paper we have used a general purpose graphics processing unit to process adaptive-optics optical coherence tomography (AOOCT) images in real time. Increasing the processing speed of AOOCT is an essential step in moving the super high resolution technology closer to clinical viability.

The Ortho-Syllable as a Processing Unit in Handwriting: The Mute E Effect

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lambert, Eric; Sausset, Solen; Rigalleau, François

2015-01-01

Some research on written production has focused on the role of the syllable as a processing unit. However, the precise nature of this syllable unit has yet to be elucidated. The present study examined whether the nature of this processing unit is orthographic (i.e., an ortho-syllable) or phonological. We asked French adults to copy three-syllable…

Major Breeding Plumage Color Differences of Male Ruffs (Philomachus pugnax) Are Not Associated With Coding Sequence Variation in the MC1R Gene

PubMed Central

Küpper, Clemens; Burke, Terry; Lank, David B.

2015-01-01

Sequence variation in the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) gene explains color morph variation in several species of birds and mammals. Ruffs (Philomachus pugnax) exhibit major dark/light color differences in melanin-based male breeding plumage which is closely associated with alternative reproductive behavior. A previous study identified a microsatellite marker (Ppu020) near the MC1R locus associated with the presence/absence of ornamental plumage. We investigated whether coding sequence variation in the MC1R gene explains major dark/light plumage color variation and/or the presence/absence of ornamental plumage in ruffs. Among 821bp of the MC1R coding region from 44 male ruffs we found 3 single nucleotide polymorphisms, representing 1 nonsynonymous and 2 synonymous amino acid substitutions. None were associated with major dark/light color differences or the presence/absence of ornamental plumage. At all amino acid sites known to be functionally important in other avian species with dark/light plumage color variation, ruffs were either monomorphic or the shared polymorphism did not coincide with color morph. Neither ornamental plumage color differences nor the presence/absence of ornamental plumage in ruffs are likely to be caused entirely by amino acid variation within the coding regions of the MC1R locus. Regulatory elements and structural variation at other loci may be involved in melanin expression and contribute to the extreme plumage polymorphism observed in this species. PMID:25534935

Frequency of null allele of Human Leukocyte Antigen-G (HLA-G) locus in subjects to recurrent miscarriage.

PubMed

Alizadeh, Nazila; Mosaferi, Elnaz; Farzadi, Laya; Majidi, Jafar; Monfaredan, Amir; Yousefi, Bahman; Baradaran, Behzad

2016-07-01

Human leukocyte antigen-G (HLA-G) is a non-classical class I molecule highly expressed by extravillous cytotrophoblast cells. Due to a single base pair deletion, its function can be compensated by other isoforms. Investigating the frequency of null allele in Recurrent Miscarriage (RM) subjects could be useful in understanding the relationship between frequency of this allele and RM in a given population. This study aimed to determine the frequency of HLA-G*0105N null allele and its potential association with down-regulation of HLA-G in subjects with RM. Western blotting was used to assess the level of HLA-G protein expression. For investigating the frequency of HLA-G*0105N null allele in RM subjects, PCR-RFLP method was used. Exon 3 of HLA-G gene was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Subsequently, PpuM-1 enzyme was employed to digest the PCR products and fragments were analyzed using gel electrophoresis. Digestion using restriction enzyme showed the presence of heterozygous HLA-G*0105N null allele in 10% of the test population. Western blotting results confirmed the decrease in expression of HLA-G in the placental tissue of subjects with RM compared to subjects who could give normal birth. The frequency of heterozygous HLA-G*0105N null allele was high to some extent in subjects with RM. The mutation rate in subjects suggested that there is a significant association between RM and frequency of mutations in this allele.

Interaction between genotypes, environment and season (G x E x S) on anthocyanin corn in lowland zone of Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

G, M. Yasin H.; Isnaeni, M.; Faesal; Azrai, M.

2018-05-01

Interaction between genotypes (G), environment (E) and season (S) on anthocyanin corn has been studied under lowland zone in Indonesia. The experiment were conducted using Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) based on location namely Maros, Bajeng, and Polman with three replications. Ten populations of open pollinated variety (OPV) of anthocyanins purple corn included checks were used in two planting seasons (dry and rainy) in 2015/2016. The objective of the experiment is to determine which of the population is stable and has high yield to be promoted as candidate for new OPV varieties. Genotypes were planted in four rows of 5.0 m length, spacing of 75 cm x 20 cm, one plant per hill, and applied with Urea, Ponska (300 and 200 kg Ha-1). Population was then selected by t test in model Yij=µ+βiIj+δij, i≠j (Y: yield, µ: mean, β: regression coefficient, I: environmental index, δ: deviation from regression), and stability parameter bi=ΣYiIj/I2 j. The results show that there was a significant interaction of GxExS on PMU(S1).Synth.F.C1 and PPU(S1).F.C1 with yield ranging between 6.70-8.48 t ha-1 and grain potential found in the locations of Maros and Bajeng in the rainy season. Content of anthocyanins were between 37.15 and 51.92 µg per 100 g sample.

Brayton Power Conversion System Study to Advance Technology Readiness for Nuclear Electric Propulsion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Allen, Bog; Delventhal, Rex; Frye, Patrick

2004-01-01

Recently, there has been significant interest within the aerospace community to develop space based nuclear power conversion technologies especially for exploring the outer planets of our solar system where the solar energy density is very low. To investigate these technologies NASA awarded several contracts under Project Prometheus, the Nuclear Systems Program. The studies described in this paper were performed under one of those contracts, which was to investigate the use of a nuclear power conversion system based on the closed Brayton cycle (CBC).The investigation performed included BPCS (Brayton Power Conversion System) trade studies to minimize system weight and radiator area and advance the state of the art of BPCS technology. The primary requirements for studies were a power level of 100 kWe (to the PPU), a low overall power system mass and a lifetime of 15 years (10 years full power). For the radiation environment, the system was to be capable of operation in the generic space environment and withstand the extreme environments surrounding Jupiter. The studies defined a BPCS design traceable to NEP (Nuclear Electric Propulsion) requirements and suitable for future missions with a sound technology plan for technology readiness level (TRL) advancement identified. The studies assumed a turbine inlet temperature approx. 100 C above the current the state of the art capabilities with materials issues and related development tasks identified. Analyses and evaluations of six different HRS (heat rejection system) designs and three primary power management and distribution (PMAD) configurations will be discussed in the paper.

26 CFR 1.924(d)-1 - Requirement that economic processes take place outside the United States.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 26 Internal Revenue 10 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Requirement that economic processes take place... Citizens of United States § 1.924(d)-1 Requirement that economic processes take place outside the United... any transaction only if economic processes with respect to such transaction take place outside the...

Portable brine evaporator unit, process, and system

DOEpatents

Hart, Paul John; Miller, Bruce G.; Wincek, Ronald T.; Decker, Glenn E.; Johnson, David K.

2009-04-07

The present invention discloses a comprehensive, efficient, and cost effective portable evaporator unit, method, and system for the treatment of brine. The evaporator unit, method, and system require a pretreatment process that removes heavy metals, crude oil, and other contaminates in preparation for the evaporator unit. The pretreatment and the evaporator unit, method, and system process metals and brine at the site where they are generated (the well site). Thus, saving significant money to producers who can avoid present and future increases in transportation costs.

Assessing the influence of component processing and donor characteristics on quality of red cell concentrates using quality control data.

PubMed

Jordan, A; Chen, D; Yi, Q-L; Kanias, T; Gladwin, M T; Acker, J P

2016-07-01

Quality control (QC) data collected by blood services are used to monitor production and to ensure compliance with regulatory standards. We demonstrate how analysis of quality control data can be used to highlight the sources of variability within red cell concentrates (RCCs). We merged Canadian Blood Services QC data with manufacturing and donor records for 28 227 RCC between June 2011 and October 2014. Units were categorized based on processing method, bag manufacturer, donor age and donor sex, then assessed based on product characteristics: haemolysis and haemoglobin levels, unit volume, leucocyte count and haematocrit. Buffy-coat method (top/bottom)-processed units exhibited lower haemolysis than units processed using the whole-blood filtration method (top/top). Units from female donors exhibited lower haemolysis than male donations. Processing method influenced unit volume and the ratio of additive solution to residual plasma. Stored red blood cell characteristics are influenced by prestorage processing and donor factors. Understanding the relationship between processing, donors and RCC quality will help blood services to ensure the safety of transfused products. © 2016 International Society of Blood Transfusion.

40 CFR 63.764 - General standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... in paragraphs (c)(1) through (3) of this section. (1) For each glycol dehydration unit process vent... requirements for glycol dehydration unit process vents specified in § 63.765; (ii) The owner or operator shall... requirements for glycol dehydration unit process vents specified in § 63.765; (ii) The monitoring requirements...

40 CFR 63.764 - General standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... in paragraphs (c)(1) through (3) of this section. (1) For each glycol dehydration unit process vent... requirements for glycol dehydration unit process vents specified in § 63.765; (ii) The owner or operator shall... requirements for glycol dehydration unit process vents specified in § 63.765; (ii) The monitoring requirements...

40 CFR 63.764 - General standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... in paragraphs (c)(1) through (3) of this section. (1) For each glycol dehydration unit process vent... requirements for glycol dehydration unit process vents specified in § 63.765; (ii) The owner or operator shall... requirements for glycol dehydration unit process vents specified in § 63.765; (ii) The monitoring requirements...

40 CFR 63.764 - General standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... in paragraphs (c)(1) through (3) of this section. (1) For each glycol dehydration unit process vent... requirements for glycol dehydration unit process vents specified in § 63.765; (ii) The owner or operator shall... requirements for glycol dehydration unit process vents specified in § 63.765; (ii) The monitoring requirements...

40 CFR 63.764 - General standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... in paragraphs (c)(1) through (3) of this section. (1) For each glycol dehydration unit process vent... requirements for glycol dehydration unit process vents specified in § 63.765; (ii) The owner or operator shall... requirements for glycol dehydration unit process vents specified in § 63.765; (ii) The monitoring requirements...

EDExpress, 2000-2001: Direct Loan.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Department of Education, Washington, DC. Student Financial Assistance.

This workbook covers all the processes needed to administer the federal direct loan program in schools; it requires familiarity with the basic concepts found in the "Direct Loan School Guide." The eight units of instruction include: Unit 1: an overview; Unit 2: processing loan records, including the EDExpress setup, the processing cycle,…

40 CFR 63.1016 - Alternative means of emission limitation: Enclosed-vented process units.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 10 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Alternative means of emission limitation: Enclosed-vented process units. 63.1016 Section 63.1016 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... § 63.1016 Alternative means of emission limitation: Enclosed-vented process units. (a) Use of closed...

40 CFR 63.1016 - Alternative means of emission limitation: Enclosed-vented process units.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 10 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Alternative means of emission limitation: Enclosed-vented process units. 63.1016 Section 63.1016 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... § 63.1016 Alternative means of emission limitation: Enclosed-vented process units. (a) Use of closed...

15 CFR 971.209 - Processing outside the United States.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Processing outside the United States... THE ENVIRONMENTAL DATA SERVICE DEEP SEABED MINING REGULATIONS FOR COMMERCIAL RECOVERY PERMITS Applications Contents § 971.209 Processing outside the United States. (a) Except as provided in this section...

Estimating Missing Unit Process Data in Life Cycle Assessment Using a Similarity-Based Approach.

PubMed

Hou, Ping; Cai, Jiarui; Qu, Shen; Xu, Ming

2018-05-01

In life cycle assessment (LCA), collecting unit process data from the empirical sources (i.e., meter readings, operation logs/journals) is often costly and time-consuming. We propose a new computational approach to estimate missing unit process data solely relying on limited known data based on a similarity-based link prediction method. The intuition is that similar processes in a unit process network tend to have similar material/energy inputs and waste/emission outputs. We use the ecoinvent 3.1 unit process data sets to test our method in four steps: (1) dividing the data sets into a training set and a test set; (2) randomly removing certain numbers of data in the test set indicated as missing; (3) using similarity-weighted means of various numbers of most similar processes in the training set to estimate the missing data in the test set; and (4) comparing estimated data with the original values to determine the performance of the estimation. The results show that missing data can be accurately estimated when less than 5% data are missing in one process. The estimation performance decreases as the percentage of missing data increases. This study provides a new approach to compile unit process data and demonstrates a promising potential of using computational approaches for LCA data compilation.

Efficient utilization of greenhouse gases in a gas-to-liquids process combined with CO2/steam-mixed reforming and Fe-based Fischer-Tropsch synthesis.

PubMed

Zhang, Chundong; Jun, Ki-Won; Ha, Kyoung-Su; Lee, Yun-Jo; Kang, Seok Chang

2014-07-15

Two process models for carbon dioxide utilized gas-to-liquids (GTL) process (CUGP) mainly producing light olefins and Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) synthetic oils were developed by Aspen Plus software. Both models are mainly composed of a reforming unit, an F-T synthesis unit and a recycle unit, while the main difference is the feeding point of fresh CO2. In the reforming unit, CO2 reforming and steam reforming of methane are combined together to produce syngas in flexible composition. Meanwhile, CO2 hydrogenation is conducted via reverse water gas shift on the Fe-based catalysts in the F-T synthesis unit to produce hydrocarbons. After F-T synthesis, the unreacted syngas is recycled to F-T synthesis and reforming units to enhance process efficiency. From the simulation results, it was found that the carbon efficiencies of both CUGP options were successfully improved, and total CO2 emissions were significantly reduced, compared with the conventional GTL processes. The process efficiency was sensitive to recycle ratio and more recycle seemed to be beneficial for improving process efficiency and reducing CO2 emission. However, the process efficiency was rather insensitive to split ratio (recycle to reforming unit/total recycle), and the optimum split ratio was determined to be zero.

Internode data communications in a parallel computer

DOEpatents

Archer, Charles J.; Blocksome, Michael A.; Miller, Douglas R.; Parker, Jeffrey J.; Ratterman, Joseph D.; Smith, Brian E.

2013-09-03

Internode data communications in a parallel computer that includes compute nodes that each include main memory and a messaging unit, the messaging unit including computer memory and coupling compute nodes for data communications, in which, for each compute node at compute node boot time: a messaging unit allocates, in the messaging unit's computer memory, a predefined number of message buffers, each message buffer associated with a process to be initialized on the compute node; receives, prior to initialization of a particular process on the compute node, a data communications message intended for the particular process; and stores the data communications message in the message buffer associated with the particular process. Upon initialization of the particular process, the process establishes a messaging buffer in main memory of the compute node and copies the data communications message from the message buffer of the messaging unit into the message buffer of main memory.

Internode data communications in a parallel computer

DOEpatents

Archer, Charles J; Blocksome, Michael A; Miller, Douglas R; Parker, Jeffrey J; Ratterman, Joseph D; Smith, Brian E

2014-02-11

Internode data communications in a parallel computer that includes compute nodes that each include main memory and a messaging unit, the messaging unit including computer memory and coupling compute nodes for data communications, in which, for each compute node at compute node boot time: a messaging unit allocates, in the messaging unit's computer memory, a predefined number of message buffers, each message buffer associated with a process to be initialized on the compute node; receives, prior to initialization of a particular process on the compute node, a data communications message intended for the particular process; and stores the data communications message in the message buffer associated with the particular process. Upon initialization of the particular process, the process establishes a messaging buffer in main memory of the compute node and copies the data communications message from the message buffer of the messaging unit into the message buffer of main memory.

The Performance Improvement of the Lagrangian Particle Dispersion Model (LPDM) Using Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) Computing

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-08-01

access to the GPU for general purpose processing .5 CUDA is designed to work easily with multiple programming languages , including Fortran. CUDA is a...Using Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) Computing by Leelinda P Dawson Approved for public release; distribution unlimited...The Performance Improvement of the Lagrangian Particle Dispersion Model (LPDM) Using Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) Computing by Leelinda

Matthew Oliver | NREL

Science.gov Websites

Process Development Unit. NREL's Thermal and Catalytic Process Development Unit can process 1/2 ton per biomass to fuels and chemicals Affiliated Research Programs Thermochemical Process Integration, Scale-Up

Improvement for enhancing effectiveness of universal power system (UPS) continuous testing process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sriratana, Lerdlekha

2018-01-01

This experiment aims to enhance the effectiveness of the Universal Power System (UPS) continuous testing process of the Electrical and Electronic Institute by applying work scheduling and time study methods. Initially, the standard time of testing process has not been considered that results of unaccurate testing target and also time wasting has been observed. As monitoring and reducing waste time for improving the efficiency of testing process, Yamazumi chart and job scheduling theory (North West Corner Rule) were applied to develop new work process. After the improvements, the overall efficiency of the process possibly increased from 52.8% to 65.6% or 12.7%. Moreover, the waste time could reduce from 828.3 minutes to 653.6 minutes or 21%, while testing units per batch could increase from 3 to 4 units. Therefore, the number of testing units would increase from 12 units up to 20 units per month that also contribute to increase of net income of UPS testing process by 72%.

Testing a model of componential processing of multi-symbol numbers-evidence from measurement units.

PubMed

Huber, Stefan; Bahnmueller, Julia; Klein, Elise; Moeller, Korbinian

2015-10-01

Research on numerical cognition has addressed the processing of nonsymbolic quantities and symbolic digits extensively. However, magnitude processing of measurement units is still a neglected topic in numerical cognition research. Hence, we investigated the processing of measurement units to evaluate whether typical effects of multi-digit number processing such as the compatibility effect, the string length congruity effect, and the distance effect are also present for measurement units. In three experiments, participants had to single out the larger one of two physical quantities (e.g., lengths). In Experiment 1, the compatibility of number and measurement unit (compatible: 3 mm_6 cm with 3 < 6 and mm < cm; incompatible: 3 cm_6 mm with 3 < 6 but cm > mm) as well as string length congruity (congruent: 1 m_2 km with m < km and 2 < 3 characters; incongruent: 2 mm_1 m with mm < m, but 3 > 2 characters) were manipulated. We observed reliable compatibility effects with prolonged reaction times (RT) for incompatible trials. Moreover, a string length congruity effect was present in RT with longer RT for incongruent trials. Experiments 2 and 3 served as control experiments showing that compatibility effects persist when controlling for holistic distance and that a distance effect for measurement units exists. Our findings indicate that numbers and measurement units are processed in a componential manner and thus highlight that processing characteristics of multi-digit numbers generalize to measurement units. Thereby, our data lend further support to the recently proposed generalized model of componential multi-symbol number processing.

Automated processing of whole blood units: operational value and in vitro quality of final blood components

PubMed Central

Jurado, Marisa; Algora, Manuel; Garcia-Sanchez, Félix; Vico, Santiago; Rodriguez, Eva; Perez, Sonia; Barbolla, Luz

2012-01-01

Background The Community Transfusion Centre in Madrid currently processes whole blood using a conventional procedure (Compomat, Fresenius) followed by automated processing of buffy coats with the OrbiSac system (CaridianBCT). The Atreus 3C system (CaridianBCT) automates the production of red blood cells, plasma and an interim platelet unit from a whole blood unit. Interim platelet unit are pooled to produce a transfusable platelet unit. In this study the Atreus 3C system was evaluated and compared to the routine method with regards to product quality and operational value. Materials and methods Over a 5-week period 810 whole blood units were processed using the Atreus 3C system. The attributes of the automated process were compared to those of the routine method by assessing productivity, space, equipment and staffing requirements. The data obtained were evaluated in order to estimate the impact of implementing the Atreus 3C system in the routine setting of the blood centre. Yield and in vitro quality of the final blood components processed with the two systems were evaluated and compared. Results The Atreus 3C system enabled higher throughput while requiring less space and employee time by decreasing the amount of equipment and processing time per unit of whole blood processed. Whole blood units processed on the Atreus 3C system gave a higher platelet yield, a similar amount of red blood cells and a smaller volume of plasma. Discussion These results support the conclusion that the Atreus 3C system produces blood components meeting quality requirements while providing a high operational efficiency. Implementation of the Atreus 3C system could result in a large organisational improvement. PMID:22044958

Automated processing of whole blood units: operational value and in vitro quality of final blood components.

PubMed

Jurado, Marisa; Algora, Manuel; Garcia-Sanchez, Félix; Vico, Santiago; Rodriguez, Eva; Perez, Sonia; Barbolla, Luz

2012-01-01

The Community Transfusion Centre in Madrid currently processes whole blood using a conventional procedure (Compomat, Fresenius) followed by automated processing of buffy coats with the OrbiSac system (CaridianBCT). The Atreus 3C system (CaridianBCT) automates the production of red blood cells, plasma and an interim platelet unit from a whole blood unit. Interim platelet unit are pooled to produce a transfusable platelet unit. In this study the Atreus 3C system was evaluated and compared to the routine method with regards to product quality and operational value. Over a 5-week period 810 whole blood units were processed using the Atreus 3C system. The attributes of the automated process were compared to those of the routine method by assessing productivity, space, equipment and staffing requirements. The data obtained were evaluated in order to estimate the impact of implementing the Atreus 3C system in the routine setting of the blood centre. Yield and in vitro quality of the final blood components processed with the two systems were evaluated and compared. The Atreus 3C system enabled higher throughput while requiring less space and employee time by decreasing the amount of equipment and processing time per unit of whole blood processed. Whole blood units processed on the Atreus 3C system gave a higher platelet yield, a similar amount of red blood cells and a smaller volume of plasma. These results support the conclusion that the Atreus 3C system produces blood components meeting quality requirements while providing a high operational efficiency. Implementation of the Atreus 3C system could result in a large organisational improvement.

Using Loop Heat Pipes to Minimize Survival Heater Power for NASA's Evolutionary Xenon Thruster Power Processing Units

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Choi, Michael K.

2017-01-01

A thermal design concept of using propylene loop heat pipes to minimize survival heater power for NASA's Evolutionary Xenon Thruster power processing units is presented. It reduces the survival heater power from 183 W to 35 W per power processing unit. The reduction is 81%.

40 CFR 61.348 - Standards: Treatment processes.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... enhanced biodegradation unit shall not be included in the calculation of the total annual benzene quantity, if the enhanced biodegradation unit is the first exempt unit in which the waste is managed or treated. A unit shall be considered enhanced biodegradation if it is a suspended-growth process that...

40 CFR 61.348 - Standards: Treatment processes.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... enhanced biodegradation unit shall not be included in the calculation of the total annual benzene quantity, if the enhanced biodegradation unit is the first exempt unit in which the waste is managed or treated. A unit shall be considered enhanced biodegradation if it is a suspended-growth process that...

40 CFR 61.348 - Standards: Treatment processes.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... enhanced biodegradation unit shall not be included in the calculation of the total annual benzene quantity, if the enhanced biodegradation unit is the first exempt unit in which the waste is managed or treated. A unit shall be considered enhanced biodegradation if it is a suspended-growth process that...

40 CFR 61.348 - Standards: Treatment processes.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... enhanced biodegradation unit shall not be included in the calculation of the total annual benzene quantity, if the enhanced biodegradation unit is the first exempt unit in which the waste is managed or treated. A unit shall be considered enhanced biodegradation if it is a suspended-growth process that...

Natural Gas Processing Plants in the United States: 2010 Update

EIA Publications

2011-01-01

This special report presents an analysis of natural gas processing plants in the United States as of 2009 and highlights characteristics of this segment of the industry. The purpose of the paper is to examine the role of natural gas processing plants in the natural gas supply chain and to provide an overview and summary of processing plant characteristics in the United States, such as locations, capacities, and operations.

Toward a formal verification of a floating-point coprocessor and its composition with a central processing unit

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pan, Jing; Levitt, Karl N.; Cohen, Gerald C.

1991-01-01

Discussed here is work to formally specify and verify a floating point coprocessor based on the MC68881. The HOL verification system developed at Cambridge University was used. The coprocessor consists of two independent units: the bus interface unit used to communicate with the cpu and the arithmetic processing unit used to perform the actual calculation. Reasoning about the interaction and synchronization among processes using higher order logic is demonstrated.

40 CFR 63.1360 - Applicability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... process unit. If the greatest input to and/or output from a shared storage vessel is the same for two or... not have an intervening storage vessel. If two or more PAI process units have the same input to or... process unit that sends the most material to or receives the most material from the storage vessel. If two...

40 CFR Appendix B to Part 63 - Sources Defined for Early Reduction Provisions

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

.... All valves in gas or light liquid service within a process unit b. All pumps in light liquid service within a process unit c. All connectors in gas or light liquid service within a process unit d. Each...-ended valve or line i. Each sampling connection system j. Each instrumentation system k. Each pump...

78 FR 21862 - Revision to United States Marshals Service Fees for Services

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-04-12

... the United States Marshals Service for service of process in federal court proceedings. DATES: Written... 28 CFR 0.114(a) as follows: For process forwarded for service from one U.S Marshals Service office or... process, the United States Marshals Service is proposing to charge $65 per hour (or portion thereof) for...

Alternative Procedure of Heat Integration Tehnique Election between Two Unit Processes to Improve Energy Saving

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santi, S. S.; Renanto; Altway, A.

2018-01-01

The energy use system in a production process, in this case heat exchangers networks (HENs), is one element that plays a role in the smoothness and sustainability of the industry itself. Optimizing Heat Exchanger Networks (HENs) from process streams can have a major effect on the economic value of an industry as a whole. So the solving of design problems with heat integration becomes an important requirement. In a plant, heat integration can be carried out internally or in combination between process units. However, steps in the determination of suitable heat integration techniques require long calculations and require a long time. In this paper, we propose an alternative step in determining heat integration technique by investigating 6 hypothetical units using Pinch Analysis approach with objective function energy target and total annual cost target. The six hypothetical units consist of units A, B, C, D, E, and F, where each unit has the location of different process streams to the temperature pinch. The result is a potential heat integration (ΔH’) formula that can trim conventional steps from 7 steps to just 3 steps. While the determination of the preferred heat integration technique is to calculate the potential of heat integration (ΔH’) between the hypothetical process units. Completion of calculation using matlab language programming.

Judicial Process, Grade Eight. Resource Unit (Unit V).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Minnesota Univ., Minneapolis. Project Social Studies Curriculum Center.

This resource unit, developed by the University of Minnesota's Project Social Studies, introduces eighth graders to the judicial process. The unit was designed with two major purposes in mind. First, it helps pupils understand judicial decision-making, and second, it provides for the study of the rights guaranteed by the federal Constitution. Both…

Two-digit number comparison: Decade-unit and unit-decade produce the same compatibility effect with number words.

PubMed

Macizo, Pedro; Herrera, Amparo

2010-03-01

This study explored the processing of 2-digit number words by examining the unit-decade compatibility effect in Spanish. Participants were required to choose the larger of 2-digit number words presented in verbal notation. In compatible trials the decade and unit comparisons led to the same response (e.g., 53-68) while in incompatible trials the decade and unit comparisons led to different responses (e.g., 59-74). Participants were slower on compatible trials as compared to incompatible trials. In Experiments 2 and 3, we evaluated whether the reverse compatibility effect in Spanish was only due to a pure left-to-right encoding which favours the decade processing in this language (decade-unit order). When participants processed 2-digit number words presented in reverse form (in the unit-decade order), the same reverse compatibility effect was found. This pattern of results suggests that participants have learnt a language-dependent process for analysing written numbers which is used irrespective of the specific arrangement of units and decades in the comparison task. 2010 APA, all rights reserved.

Solar thermochemical processing system and method

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wegeng, Robert S.; Humble, Paul H.; Krishnan, Shankar

A solar thermochemical processing system is disclosed. The system includes a first unit operation for receiving concentrated solar energy. Heat from the solar energy is used to drive the first unit operation. The first unit operation also receives a first set of reactants and produces a first set of products. A second unit operation receives the first set of products from the first unit operation and produces a second set of products. A third unit operation receives heat from the second unit operation to produce a portion of the first set of reactants.

On Tour... Primary Hardwood Processing, Products and Recycling Unit

Treesearch

Philip A. Araman; Daniel L. Schmoldt

1995-01-01

Housed within the Department of Wood Science and Forest Products at Virginia Polytechnic Institute is a three-person USDA Forest Service research work unit (with one vacancy) devoted to hardwood processing and recycling research. Phil Araman is the project leader of this truly unique and productive unit, titled ãPrimary Hardwood Processing, Products and Recycling.ä The...

Associative list processing unit

DOEpatents

Hemmert, Karl Scott; Underwood, Keith D.

2013-01-29

An associative list processing unit and method comprising employing a plurality of prioritized cell blocks and permitting inserts to occur in a single clock cycle if all of the cell blocks are not full. Also, an associative list processing unit and method comprising employing a plurality of prioritized cell blocks and using a tree of prioritized multiplexers descending from the plurality of cell blocks.

Technical options for processing additional light tight oil volumes within the United States

EIA Publications

2015-01-01

This report examines technical options for processing additional LTO volumes within the United States. Domestic processing of additional LTO would enable an increase in petroleum product exports from the United States, already the world’s largest net exporter of petroleum products. Unlike crude oil, products are not subject to export limitations or licensing requirements. While this is one possible approach to absorbing higher domestic LTO production in the absence of a relaxation of current limitations on crude exports, domestic LTO would have to be priced at a level required to encourage additional LTO runs at existing refinery units, debottlenecking, or possible additions of processing capacity.

Biodiversity of indigenous staphylococci of naturally fermented dry sausages and manufacturing environments of small-scale processing units.

PubMed

Leroy, Sabine; Giammarinaro, Philippe; Chacornac, Jean-Paul; Lebert, Isabelle; Talon, Régine

2010-04-01

The staphylococcal community of the environments of nine French small-scale processing units and their naturally fermented meat products was identified by analyzing 676 isolates. Fifteen species were accurately identified using validated molecular methods. The three prevalent species were Staphylococcus equorum (58.4%), Staphylococcus saprophyticus (15.7%) and Staphylococcus xylosus (9.3%). S. equorum was isolated in all the processing units in similar proportion in meat and environmental samples. S. saprophyticus was also isolated in all the processing units with a higher percentage in environmental samples. S. xylosus was present sporadically in the processing units and its prevalence was higher in meat samples. The genetic diversity of the strains within the three species isolated from one processing unit was studied by PFGE and revealed a high diversity for S. equorum and S. saprophyticus both in the environment and the meat isolates. The genetic diversity remained high through the manufacturing steps. A small percentage of the strains of the two species share the two ecological niches. These results highlight that some strains, probably introduced by the meat, will persist in the manufacturing environment, while other strains are more adapted to the meat products.

40 CFR 63.7499 - What are the subcategories of boilers and process heaters?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... process heaters, as defined in § 63.7575 are: (a) Pulverized coal/solid fossil fuel units. (b) Stokers designed to burn coal/solid fossil fuel. (c) Fluidized bed units designed to burn coal/solid fossil fuel... liquid fuel. (r) Units designed to burn coal/solid fossil fuel. (s) Fluidized bed units with an...

40 CFR 63.7499 - What are the subcategories of boilers and process heaters?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... process heaters, as defined in § 63.7575 are: (a) Pulverized coal/solid fossil fuel units. (b) Stokers designed to burn coal/solid fossil fuel. (c) Fluidized bed units designed to burn coal/solid fossil fuel... liquid fuel. (r) Units designed to burn coal/solid fossil fuel. (s) Fluidized bed units with an...

Legislative Process, Grade Eight. Resource Unit (Unit IV).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Minnesota Univ., Minneapolis. Project Social Studies Curriculum Center.

This resource unit, developed by the University of Minnesota's Project Social Studies, introduces eighth graders to the legislative process. The unit uses case studies such as the Civil Rights Acts of 1960 and 1964 and attempts to change the Rules Committee in 1961. It also uses much data on background of congressmen and on distribution of…

The Executive Process, Grade Eight. Resource Unit (Unit III).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Minnesota Univ., Minneapolis. Project Social Studies Curriculum Center.

This resource unit, developed by the University of Minnesota's Project Social Studies, introduces eighth graders to the executive process. The unit uses case studies of presidential decision making such as the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the Cuba Bay of Pigs and quarantine decisions, and the Little Rock decision. A case study of…

Method of up-front load balancing for local memory parallel processors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baffes, Paul Thomas (Inventor)

1990-01-01

In a parallel processing computer system with multiple processing units and shared memory, a method is disclosed for uniformly balancing the aggregate computational load in, and utilizing minimal memory by, a network having identical computations to be executed at each connection therein. Read-only and read-write memory are subdivided into a plurality of process sets, which function like artificial processing units. Said plurality of process sets is iteratively merged and reduced to the number of processing units without exceeding the balance load. Said merger is based upon the value of a partition threshold, which is a measure of the memory utilization. The turnaround time and memory savings of the instant method are functions of the number of processing units available and the number of partitions into which the memory is subdivided. Typical results of the preferred embodiment yielded memory savings of from sixty to seventy five percent.

Method and Apparatus for Improved Spatial Light Modulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Soutar, Colin (Inventor); Juday, Richard D. (Inventor)

2000-01-01

A method and apparatus for modulating a light beam in an optical processing system is described. Preferably, an electrically-controlled polarizer unit and/or an analyzer unit are utilized in combination with a spatial light modulator and a controller. Preferably, the spatial light modulator comprises a pixelated birefringent medium such as a liquid crystal video display. The combination of the electrically controlled polarizer unit and analyzer unit make it simple and fast to reconfigure the modulation described by the Jones matrix of the spatial light modulator. A particular optical processing objective is provided to the controller. The controller performs calculations and supplies control signals to the polarizer unit, the analyzer unit, and the spatial light modulator in order to obtain the optical processing objective.

Method and Apparatus for Improved Spatial Light Modulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Colin, Soutar (Inventor); Juday, Richard D. (Inventor)

1999-01-01

A method and apparatus for modulating a light beam in an optical processing system is described. Preferably, an electrically-controlled polarizer unit and/or an analyzer unit are utilized in combination with a spatial light modulator and a controller. Preferably, the spatial light modulator comprises a pixelated birefringent medium such as a liquid crystal video display. The combination of the electrically controlled polarizer unit and analyzer unit make it simple and fast to reconfigure the modulation described by the Jones matrix of the spatial light modulator. A particular optical processing objective is provided to the controller. The controller performs calculations and supplies control signals to the polarizer unit, the analyzer unit, and the spatial light modulator in order to obtain die optical processing objective.

Acceptor number-dependent ultrafast photo-physical properties of push-pull chromophores using time-resolved methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chi, Xiao-Chun; Wang, Ying-Hui; Gao, Yu; Sui, Ning; Zhang, Li-Quan; Wang, Wen-Yan; Lu, Ran; Ji, Wen-Yu; Yang, Yan-Qiang; Zhang, Han-Zhuang

2018-04-01

Three push-pull chromophores comprising a triphenylamine (TPA) as electron-donating moiety and functionalized β-diketones as electron acceptor units are studied by various spectroscopic techniques. The time-correlated single-photon counting data shows that increasing the number of electron acceptor units accelerates photoluminescence relaxation rate of compounds. Transient spectra data shows that intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) takes place from TPA units to β-diketones units after photo-excitation. Increasing the number of electron acceptor units would prolong the generation process of ICT state, and accelerate the excited molecule reorganization process and the relaxation process of ICT state.

Advancing perinatal patient safety through application of safety science principles using health IT.

PubMed

Webb, Jennifer; Sorensen, Asta; Sommerness, Samantha; Lasater, Beth; Mistry, Kamila; Kahwati, Leila

2017-12-19

The use of health information technology (IT) has been shown to promote patient safety in Labor and Delivery (L&D) units. The use of health IT to apply safety science principles (e.g., standardization) to L&D unit processes may further advance perinatal safety. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with L&D units participating in the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's (AHRQ's) Safety Program for Perinatal Care (SPPC) to assess units' experience with program implementation. Analysis of interview transcripts was used to characterize the process and experience of using health IT for applying safety science principles to L&D unit processes. Forty-six L&D units from 10 states completed participation in SPPC program implementation; thirty-two (70%) reported the use of health IT as an enabling strategy for their local implementation. Health IT was used to improve standardization of processes, use of independent checks, and to facilitate learning from defects. L&D units standardized care processes through use of electronic health record (EHR)-based order sets and use of smart pumps and other technology to improve medication safety. Units also standardized EHR documentation, particularly related to electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) and shoulder dystocia. Cognitive aids and tools were integrated into EHR and care workflows to create independent checks such as checklists, risk assessments, and communication handoff tools. Units also used data from EHRs to monitor processes of care to learn from defects. Units experienced several challenges incorporating health IT, including obtaining organization approval, working with their busy IT departments, and retrieving standardized data from health IT systems. Use of health IT played an integral part in the planning and implementation of SPPC for participating L&D units. Use of health IT is an encouraging approach for incorporating safety science principles into care to improve perinatal safety and should be incorporated into materials to facilitate the implementation of perinatal safety initiatives.

Frequency of null allele of Human Leukocyte Antigen-G (HLA-G) locus in subjects to recurrent miscarriage

PubMed Central

Alizadeh, Nazila; Mosaferi, Elnaz; Farzadi, Laya; Majidi, Jafar; Monfaredan, Amir; Yousefi, Bahman; Baradaran, Behzad

2016-01-01

Background: Human leukocyte antigen-G (HLA-G) is a non-classical class I molecule highly expressed by extravillous cytotrophoblast cells. Due to a single base pair deletion, its function can be compensated by other isoforms. Investigating the frequency of null allele in Recurrent Miscarriage (RM) subjects could be useful in understanding the relationship between frequency of this allele and RM in a given population. Objective: This study aimed to determine the frequency of HLA-G*0105N null allele and its potential association with down-regulation of HLA-G in subjects with RM. Materials and Methods: Western blotting was used to assess the level of HLA-G protein expression. For investigating the frequency of HLA-G*0105N null allele in RM subjects, PCR-RFLP method was used. Exon 3 of HLA-G gene was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Subsequently, PpuM-1 enzyme was employed to digest the PCR products and fragments were analyzed using gel electrophoresis. Results: Digestion using restriction enzyme showed the presence of heterozygous HLA-G*0105N null allele in 10% of the test population. Western blotting results confirmed the decrease in expression of HLA-G in the placental tissue of subjects with RM compared to subjects who could give normal birth. Conclusion: The frequency of heterozygous HLA-G*0105N null allele was high to some extent in subjects with RM. The mutation rate in subjects suggested that there is a significant association between RM and frequency of mutations in this allele. PMID:27525330

Technical and Energy Performance of an Advanced, Aqueous Ammonia-Based CO2 Capture Technology for a 500 MW Coal-Fired Power Station.

PubMed

Li, Kangkang; Yu, Hai; Feron, Paul; Tade, Moses; Wardhaugh, Leigh

2015-08-18

Using a rate-based model, we assessed the technical feasibility and energy performance of an advanced aqueous-ammonia-based postcombustion capture process integrated with a coal-fired power station. The capture process consists of three identical process trains in parallel, each containing a CO2 capture unit, an NH3 recycling unit, a water separation unit, and a CO2 compressor. A sensitivity study of important parameters, such as NH3 concentration, lean CO2 loading, and stripper pressure, was performed to minimize the energy consumption involved in the CO2 capture process. Process modifications of the rich-split process and the interheating process were investigated to further reduce the solvent regeneration energy. The integrated capture system was then evaluated in terms of the mass balance and the energy consumption of each unit. The results show that our advanced ammonia process is technically feasible and energy-competitive, with a low net power-plant efficiency penalty of 7.7%.

An Investigation of the Role of Grapheme Units in Word Recognition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lupker, Stephen J.; Acha, Joana; Davis, Colin J.; Perea, Manuel

2012-01-01

In most current models of word recognition, the word recognition process is assumed to be driven by the activation of letter units (i.e., that letters are the perceptual units in reading). An alternative possibility is that the word recognition process is driven by the activation of grapheme units, that is, that graphemes, rather than letters, are…

High Input Voltage, Silicon Carbide Power Processing Unit Performance Demonstration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bozak, Karin E.; Pinero, Luis R.; Scheidegger, Robert J.; Aulisio, Michael V.; Gonzalez, Marcelo C.; Birchenough, Arthur G.

2015-01-01

A silicon carbide brassboard power processing unit has been developed by the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. The power processing unit operates from two sources: a nominal 300 Volt high voltage input bus and a nominal 28 Volt low voltage input bus. The design of the power processing unit includes four low voltage, low power auxiliary supplies, and two parallel 7.5 kilowatt (kW) discharge power supplies that are capable of providing up to 15 kilowatts of total power at 300 to 500 Volts (V) to the thruster. Additionally, the unit contains a housekeeping supply, high voltage input filter, low voltage input filter, and master control board, such that the complete brassboard unit is capable of operating a 12.5 kilowatt Hall effect thruster. The performance of the unit was characterized under both ambient and thermal vacuum test conditions, and the results demonstrate exceptional performance with full power efficiencies exceeding 97%. The unit was also tested with a 12.5kW Hall effect thruster to verify compatibility and output filter specifications. With space-qualified silicon carbide or similar high voltage, high efficiency power devices, this would provide a design solution to address the need for high power electric propulsion systems.

Audits of oncology units - an effective and pragmatic approach.

PubMed

Abratt, Raymond Pierre; Eedes, David; Bailey, Belinda; Salmon, Chris; Govender, Yogi; Oelofse, Ivan; Burger, Henriette

2017-05-24

Audits of oncology units are part of all quality-assurance programmes. However, they do not always come across as pragmatic and helpful to staff. To report on the results of an online survey on the usefulness and impact of an audit process for oncology units. Staff in oncology units who were part of the audit process completed the audit self-assessment form for the unit. This was followed by a visit to each unit by an assessor, and then subsequent personal contact, usually via telephone. The audit self-assessment document listed quality-assurance measures or items in the physical and functional areas of the oncology unit. There were a total of 153 items included in the audit. The online survey took place in October 2016. The invitation to participate was sent to 59 oncology units at which staff members had completed the audit process. The online survey was completed by 54 (41%) of the 132 potential respondents. The online survey found that the audit was very or extremely useful in maintaining personal professional standards in 89% of responses. The audit process and feedback was rated as very or extremely satisfactory in 80% and 81%, respectively. The self-assessment audit document was scored by survey respondents as very or extremely practical in 63% of responses. The feedback on the audit was that it was very or extremely helpful in formulating improvement plans in oncology units in 82% of responses. Major and minor changes that occurred as a result of the audit process were reported as 8% and 88%, respectively. The survey findings show that the audit process and its self- assessment document meet the aims of being helpful and pragmatic.

Near-memory data reorganization engine

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gokhale, Maya; Lloyd, G. Scott

A memory subsystem package is provided that has processing logic for data reorganization within the memory subsystem package. The processing logic is adapted to reorganize data stored within the memory subsystem package. In some embodiments, the memory subsystem package includes memory units, a memory interconnect, and a data reorganization engine ("DRE"). The data reorganization engine includes a stream interconnect and DRE units including a control processor and a load-store unit. The control processor is adapted to execute instructions to control a data reorganization. The load-store unit is adapted to process data move commands received from the control processor via themore » stream interconnect for loading data from a load memory address of a memory unit and storing data to a store memory address of a memory unit.« less

ON DEVELOPING CLEANER ORGANIC UNIT PROCESSES

EPA Science Inventory

Organic waste products, potentially harmful to the human health and the environment, are primarily produced in the synthesis stage of manufacturing processes. Many such synthetic unit processes, such as halogenation, oxidation, alkylation, nitration, and sulfonation are common to...

A Science and Risk-Based Pragmatic Methodology for Blend and Content Uniformity Assessment.

PubMed

Sayeed-Desta, Naheed; Pazhayattil, Ajay Babu; Collins, Jordan; Doshi, Chetan

2018-04-01

This paper describes a pragmatic approach that can be applied in assessing powder blend and unit dosage uniformity of solid dose products at Process Design, Process Performance Qualification, and Continued/Ongoing Process Verification stages of the Process Validation lifecycle. The statistically based sampling, testing, and assessment plan was developed due to the withdrawal of the FDA draft guidance for industry "Powder Blends and Finished Dosage Units-Stratified In-Process Dosage Unit Sampling and Assessment." This paper compares the proposed Grouped Area Variance Estimate (GAVE) method with an alternate approach outlining the practicality and statistical rationalization using traditional sampling and analytical methods. The approach is designed to fit solid dose processes assuring high statistical confidence in both powder blend uniformity and dosage unit uniformity during all three stages of the lifecycle complying with ASTM standards as recommended by the US FDA.

40 CFR Table 8 to Subpart G of... - Organic HAP's Subject to the Wastewater Provisions for Process Units at New Sources

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... Wastewater Provisions for Process Units at New Sources 8 Table 8 to Subpart G of Part 63 Protection of... Vessels, Transfer Operations, and Wastewater Pt. 63, Subpt. G, Table 8 Table 8 to Subpart G of Part 63—Organic HAP's Subject to the Wastewater Provisions for Process Units at New Sources Chemical name CAS No...

40 CFR Table 8 to Subpart G of... - Organic HAP's Subject to the Wastewater Provisions for Process Units at New Sources

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... Wastewater Provisions for Process Units at New Sources 8 Table 8 to Subpart G of Part 63 Protection of... Vessels, Transfer Operations, and Wastewater Pt. 63, Subpt. G, Table 8 Table 8 to Subpart G of Part 63—Organic HAP's Subject to the Wastewater Provisions for Process Units at New Sources Chemical name CAS No...

40 CFR Table 8 to Subpart G of... - Organic HAP's Subject to the Wastewater Provisions for Process Units at New Sources

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... Wastewater Provisions for Process Units at New Sources 8 Table 8 to Subpart G of Part 63 Protection of... Vessels, Transfer Operations, and Wastewater Pt. 63, Subpt. G, Table 8 Table 8 to Subpart G of Part 63—Organic HAP's Subject to the Wastewater Provisions for Process Units at New Sources Chemical name CAS No...

Case Studies of Internationalization in Adult and Higher Education: Inside the Processes of Four Universities in the United States and the United Kingdom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coryell, Joellen Elizabeth; Durodoye, Beth A.; Wright, Robin Redmon; Pate, P. Elizabeth; Nguyen, Shelbee

2012-01-01

This report outlines a method for learning about the internationalization processes at institutions of adult and higher education and then provides the analysis of data gathered from the researchers' own institution and from site visits to three additional universities in the United States and the United Kingdom. It was found that campus…

Undergraduate Game Degree Programs in the United Kingdom and United States: A Comparison of the Curriculum Planning Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGill, Monica M.

2010-01-01

Digital games are marketed, mass-produced, and consumed by an increasing number of people and the game industry is only expected to grow. In response, post-secondary institutions in the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) have started to create game degree programs. Though curriculum theorists provide insight into the process of…

40 CFR 63.9620 - On which units and by what date must I conduct performance tests or other initial compliance...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... section. (1) All emission units within a group must be of the same process type (e.g., primary crushers... emission units from different process types together for the purposes of this section. (2) All emission units within a group must also have the same type of air pollution control device (e.g., wet scrubbers...

40 CFR 63.9620 - On which units and by what date must I conduct performance tests or other initial compliance...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... section. (1) All emission units within a group must be of the same process type (e.g., primary crushers... emission units from different process types together for the purposes of this section. (2) All emission units within a group must also have the same type of air pollution control device (e.g., wet scrubbers...

40 CFR 63.9620 - On which units and by what date must I conduct performance tests or other initial compliance...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... section. (1) All emission units within a group must be of the same process type (e.g., primary crushers... emission units from different process types together for the purposes of this section. (2) All emission units within a group must also have the same type of air pollution control device (e.g., wet scrubbers...

40 CFR 63.9620 - On which units and by what date must I conduct performance tests or other initial compliance...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... section. (1) All emission units within a group must be of the same process type (e.g., primary crushers... emission units from different process types together for the purposes of this section. (2) All emission units within a group must also have the same type of air pollution control device (e.g., wet scrubbers...

40 CFR 63.9620 - On which units and by what date must I conduct performance tests or other initial compliance...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... section. (1) All emission units within a group must be of the same process type (e.g., primary crushers... emission units from different process types together for the purposes of this section. (2) All emission units within a group must also have the same type of air pollution control device (e.g., wet scrubbers...

15 CFR 971.427 - Processing outside the United States.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Processing outside the United States... THE ENVIRONMENTAL DATA SERVICE DEEP SEABED MINING REGULATIONS FOR COMMERCIAL RECOVERY PERMITS Issuance... outside the United States. If appropriate TCRs will incorporate provisions to implement the decision of...

The Units Ontology: a tool for integrating units of measurement in science

PubMed Central

Gkoutos, Georgios V.; Schofield, Paul N.; Hoehndorf, Robert

2012-01-01

Units are basic scientific tools that render meaning to numerical data. Their standardization and formalization caters for the report, exchange, process, reproducibility and integration of quantitative measurements. Ontologies are means that facilitate the integration of data and knowledge allowing interoperability and semantic information processing between diverse biomedical resources and domains. Here, we present the Units Ontology (UO), an ontology currently being used in many scientific resources for the standardized description of units of measurements. PMID:23060432

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

Prior to 1978, the Wilsonville Advanced Coal Liquefaction facility material balance surrounded only the thermal liquefaction unit and involved analyses of only the slurry stream and individual gas streams. The distillate solvent yield was determined by difference. Subsequently, several modifications and additional process units were introduced to this single unit system. With the inclusion of the deashing unit in 1978 and the catalytic hydrogenation unit in 1981, the process has evolved into a sophisticated two-stage coal liquefaction process and has the potential for various modes of integration. This report presents an elemental balancing procedure and a simplified presentation format thatmore » is sufficiently flexible to meet current and future needs. The development of the elemental balancing technique and the relevant computer programs to handle the calculations have been addressed. This will be useful in modelling individual unit performance as well as determining the impact of each unit on the overall liquefaction system, provided the units are on a steady-state basis. Five different material balance envelopes are defined. Three of these envelopes pertain to the individual units (the thermal liquefaction or TL unit, the Critical Solvent Deashing or CSD unit and the H-Oil Ebullated Bed Hydrotreating or HTR unit). The fourth or single stage material balance envelope combines the TL and CSD units. The fifth envelope is the two-stage configuration combining all three units. 3 references.« less

Acceleration of integral imaging based incoherent Fourier hologram capture using graphic processing unit.

PubMed

Jeong, Kyeong-Min; Kim, Hee-Seung; Hong, Sung-In; Lee, Sung-Keun; Jo, Na-Young; Kim, Yong-Soo; Lim, Hong-Gi; Park, Jae-Hyeung

2012-10-08

Speed enhancement of integral imaging based incoherent Fourier hologram capture using a graphic processing unit is reported. Integral imaging based method enables exact hologram capture of real-existing three-dimensional objects under regular incoherent illumination. In our implementation, we apply parallel computation scheme using the graphic processing unit, accelerating the processing speed. Using enhanced speed of hologram capture, we also implement a pseudo real-time hologram capture and optical reconstruction system. The overall operation speed is measured to be 1 frame per second.

Developing and Implementing a Process for the Review of Nonacademic Units.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Marilyn K.

1989-01-01

A major research university's recently developed process for systematic evaluation of nonacademic units is described, and the steps in its development and implementation are outlined: review of literature on organizational effectiveness; survey of peer institutions; development of guidelines for review; and implementation in several campus units.…

Recent Progress in Silicon-Based MEMS Field Emission Thrusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lenard, Roger X.; Kravitz, Stanley H.; Tajmar, Martin

2005-02-01

The Indium Field Emission Thruster (In-FET) is a highly characterized and space-proven device based on space-qualified liquid metal ion sources. There is also extensive experience with liquid metal ion sources for high-brightness semiconductor fabrications and inspection Like gridded ion engines, In-FETs efficiently accelerate ions through a series of high voltage electrodes. Instead of a plasma discharge to generate ions, which generates a mixture of singly and doubly charged ions as well as neutrals, indium metal is melted (157°C) and fed to the tip of a capillary tube where very high local electric fields perform more-efficient field emission ionization, providing nearly 100% singly charged species. In-FETs do not have the associated losses or lifetime concerns of a magnetically confined discharge and hollow cathode in ion thrusters. For In-FETs, propellant efficiencies ˜100% stipulate single-emitter currents ⩽10μA, perhaps as low as 5μA of current. This low emitter current results in ⩽0.5 W/emitter. Consequently, if the In-FET is to be used for future Human and Robotic missions under President Bush's Exploration plan, a mechanism to generate very high power levels is necessary. Efficient high-power operation requires many emitter/extractor pairs. Conventional fabrication techniques allow 1-10 emitters in a single module, with pain-staking precision required. Properly designed and fabricated In-FETs possess electric-to-jet efficiency >90% and a specific mass <0.25 kg/kWe. MEMS techniques allow reliable batch processing with ˜160,000 emitters in a 10×10-cm array. Developing a 1.5kW 10×10-cm module is a necessary stepping-stone for >500 kWe systems where groups of 9 or 16 modules, with a single PPU/feed system, form the building blocks for even higher-power exploration systems. In 2003, SNL and ARCS produced a MEMS-based In-FET 5×5 emitter module with individually addressable emitter/extractor pairs on a 15×15mm wafer. The first MEMS thruster prototype has already been tested to demonstrate the proof-of-concept in laboratory-scale testing. In this paper we discuss progress that has been achieved in the past year on fabricating silicon-based MEMS In-FETs.

Transforming Care at the Bedside (TCAB): enhancing direct care and value-added care.

PubMed

Dearmon, Valorie; Roussel, Linda; Buckner, Ellen B; Mulekar, Madhuri; Pomrenke, Becky; Salas, Sheri; Mosley, Aimee; Brown, Stephanie; Brown, Ann

2013-05-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a Transforming Care at the Bedside initiative from a unit perspective. Improving patient outcomes and nurses' work environments are the goals of Transforming Care at the Bedside. Transforming Care at the Bedside creates programs of change originating at the point of care and directly promoting engagement of nurses to transform work processes and quality of care on medical-surgical units. This descriptive comparative study draws on multiple data sources from two nursing units: a Transforming Care at the Bedside unit where staff tested, adopted and implemented improvement ideas, and a control unit where staff continued traditional practices. Change theory provided the framework for the study. Direct care and value-added care increased on Transforming Care at the Bedside unit compared with the control unit. Transforming Care at the Bedside unit decreased in incidental overtime. Nurses reported that the process challenged old ways of thinking and increased nursing innovations. Hourly rounding, bedside reporting and the use of pain boards were seen as positive innovations. Evidence supported the value-added dimension of the Transforming Care at the Bedside process at the unit level. Nurses recognized the significance of their input into processes of change. Transformational leadership and frontline projects provide a vehicle for innovation through application of human capital. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

KSC-2012-6381

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-12-04

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Workers inside the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida position the orbital replacement unit for the space station's main bus switching unit as they prepare to pack the unit in a shipping container. The unit, which was processed at Kennedy, will be shipped to Japan at the beginning of the year for the HTV-4 launch, which is currently scheduled for 2013. Photo credit: NASA/Charisse Nahser

KSC-2012-6380

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-12-04

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Workers inside the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida lift the orbital replacement unit for the space station's main bus switching unit as they prepare to pack the unit in a shipping container. The unit, which was processed at Kennedy, will be shipped to Japan at the beginning of the year for the HTV-4 launch, which is currently scheduled for 2013. Photo credit: NASA/Charisse Nahser

Combination of an electrolytic pretreatment unit with secondary water reclamation processes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wells, G. W.; Bonura, M. S.

1973-01-01

The design and fabrication of a flight concept prototype electrolytic pretreatment unit (EPU) and of a contractor-furnished air evaporation unit (AEU) are described. The integrated EPU and AEU potable water recovery system is referred to as the Electrovap and is capable of processing the urine and flush water of a six-man crew. Results of a five-day performance verification test of the Electrovap system are presented and plans are included for the extended testing of the Electrovap to produce data applicable to the combination of electrolytic pretreatment with most final potable water recovery systems. Plans are also presented for a program to define the design requirements for combining the electrolytic pretreatment unit with a reverse osmosis final processing unit.

Laser peening with fiber optic delivery

DOEpatents

Friedman, Herbert W.; Ault, Earl R.; Scheibner, Karl F.

2004-11-16

A system for processing a workpiece using a laser. The laser produces at least one laser pulse. A laser processing unit is used to process the workpiece using the at least one laser pulse. A fiber optic cable is used for transmitting the at least one laser pulse from the laser to the laser processing unit.

High Input Voltage, Silicon Carbide Power Processing Unit Performance Demonstration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bozak, Karin E.; Pinero, Luis R.; Scheidegger, Robert J.; Aulisio, Michael V.; Gonzalez, Marcelo C.; Birchenough, Arthur G.

2015-01-01

A silicon carbide brassboard power processing unit has been developed by the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. The power processing unit operates from two sources - a nominal 300-Volt high voltage input bus and a nominal 28-Volt low voltage input bus. The design of the power processing unit includes four low voltage, low power supplies that provide power to the thruster auxiliary supplies, and two parallel 7.5 kilowatt power supplies that are capable of providing up to 15 kilowatts of total power at 300-Volts to 500-Volts to the thruster discharge supply. Additionally, the unit contains a housekeeping supply, high voltage input filter, low voltage input filter, and master control board, such that the complete brassboard unit is capable of operating a 12.5 kilowatt Hall Effect Thruster. The performance of unit was characterized under both ambient and thermal vacuum test conditions, and the results demonstrate the exceptional performance with full power efficiencies exceeding 97. With a space-qualified silicon carbide or similar high voltage, high efficiency power device, this design could evolve into a flight design for future missions that require high power electric propulsion systems.

Economics of food irradiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kunstadt, Peter; Eng, P.; Steeves, Colyn; Beaulieu, Daniel; Eng, P.

1993-07-01

The number of products being radiation processed worldwide is constantly increasing and today includes such diverse items as medical disposables, fruits and vegetables, spices, meats, seafoods and waste products. This range of products to be processed has resulted in a wide range of irradiator designs and capital and operating cost requirements. This paper discusses the economics of low dose food irradiation applications and the effects of various parameters on unit processing costs. It provides a model for calculating specific unit processing costs by correlating known capital costs with annual operating costs and annual throughputs. It is intended to provide the reader with a general knowledge of how unit processing costs are derived.

Cost unit accounting based on a clinical pathway: a practical tool for DRG implementation.

PubMed

Feyrer, R; Rösch, J; Weyand, M; Kunzmann, U

2005-10-01

Setting up a reliable cost unit accounting system in a hospital is a fundamental necessity for economic survival, given the current general conditions in the healthcare system. Definition of a suitable cost unit is a crucial factor for success. We present here the development and use of a clinical pathway as a cost unit as an alternative to the DRG. Elective coronary artery bypass grafting was selected as an example. Development of the clinical pathway was conducted according to a modular concept that mirrored all the treatment processes across various levels and modules. Using service records and analyses the process algorithms of the clinical pathway were developed and visualized with CorelTM iGrafix Process 2003. A detailed process cost record constituted the basis of the pathway costing, in which financial evaluation of the treatment processes was performed. The result of this study was a structured clinical pathway for coronary artery bypass grafting together with a cost calculation in the form of cost unit accounting. The use of a clinical pathway as a cost unit offers considerable advantages compared to the DRG or clinical case. The variance in the diagnoses and procedures within a pathway is minimal, so the consumption of resources is homogeneous. This leads to a considerable improvement in the value of cost unit accounting as a strategic control instrument in hospitals.

Hydrologic landscape units and adaptive management of intermountain wetlands

USGS Publications Warehouse

Custer, Stephen G.; Sojda, R.S.

2006-01-01

daptive management is often proposed to assist in the management of national wildlife refuges and allows the exploration of alternatives as well as the addition of ne w knowledge as it becomes available. The hydrological landscape unit can be a good foundation for such efforts. Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is in an intermountain basin dominated by vertical tectonics in the Northern Rocky Mountains. A geographic information system was used to define the boundaries for the hydrologic landscape units there. Units identified include alluvial fan, interfan, stream alluvi um and basin flat. Management alternatives can be informed by ex amination of processes that occu r on the units. For example, an ancient alluvial fan unit related to Red Rock Creek appear s to be isolated from stream flow today, with recharge dominated by precipitation and bedrock springs; while other alluvial fan units in the area have shallow ground water recharged from mountain streams and precipitation. The scale of hydrologic processes in interfan units differs from that in alluvial fan hydrologic landscape units. These differences are important when the refuge is evaluating habitat management activities. Hydrologic landscape units provide scientific unde rpinnings for the refuge’s comprehensive planning process. New geologic, hydrologic, and biologic knowledge can be integrated into the hydrologic landscape unit definition and improve adaptive management.

CFD Extraction Tool for TecPlot From DPLR Solutions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Norman, David

2013-01-01

This invention is a TecPlot macro of a computer program in the TecPlot programming language that processes data from DPLR solutions in TecPlot format. DPLR (Data-Parallel Line Relaxation) is a NASA computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code, and TecPlot is a commercial CFD post-processing tool. The Tec- Plot data is in SI units (same as DPLR output). The invention converts the SI units into British units. The macro modifies the TecPlot data with unit conversions, and adds some extra calculations. After unit conversions, the macro cuts a slice, and adds vectors on the current plot for output format. The macro can also process surface solutions. Existing solutions use manual conversion and superposition. The conversion is complicated because it must be applied to a range of inter-related scalars and vectors to describe a 2D or 3D flow field. It processes the CFD solution to create superposition/comparison of scalars and vectors. The existing manual solution is cumbersome, open to errors, slow, and cannot be inserted into an automated process. This invention is quick and easy to use, and can be inserted into an automated data-processing algorithm.

Effect of Cord Blood Processing on Transplant Outcomes after Single Myeloablative Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation

PubMed Central

Ballen, Karen K.; Logan, Brent R.; Laughlin, Mary J.; He, Wensheng; Ambruso, Daniel R.; Armitage, Susan E.; Beddard, Rachel L.; Bhatla, Deepika; Hwang, William Y.K.; Kiss, Joseph E.; Koegler, Gesine; Kurtzberg, Joanne; Nagler, Arnon; Oh, David; Petz, Lawrence D.; Price, Thomas H.; Quinones, Ralph R.; Ratanatharathorn, Voravit; Rizzo, J. Douglas; Sazama, Kathleen; Scaradavou, Andromachi; Schuster, Michael W.; Sender, Leonard S.; Shpall, Elizabeth J.; Spellman, Stephen R.; Sutton, Millicent; Weitekamp, Lee Ann; Wingard, John R.; Eapen, Mary

2015-01-01

Variations in cord blood manufacturing and administration are common, and the optimal practice, not known. We compared processing and banking practices at 16 public cord blood banks (CBB) in the United States, and assessed transplant outcomes on 530 single umbilical cord blood (UCB) myeloablative transplantations for hematologic malignancies, facilitated by these banks. UCB banking practices were separated into three mutually exclusive groups based on whether processing was automated or manual; units were plasma and red blood cell reduced or buffy coat production method or plasma reduced. Compared to the automated processing system for units, the day-28 neutrophil recovery was significantly lower after transplantation of units that were manually processed and plasma reduced (red cell replete) (odds ratio [OR] 0.19 p=0.001) or plasma and red cell reduced (OR 0.54, p=0.05). Day-100 survival did not differ by CBB. However, day-100 survival was better with units that were thawed with the dextran-albumin wash method compared to the “no wash” or “dilution only” techniques (OR 1.82, p=0.04). In conclusion, CBB processing has no significant effect on early (day 100) survival despite differences in kinetics of neutrophil recovery. PMID:25543094

78 FR 57033 - United States Standards for Condition of Food Containers

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-09-17

... containers during production. Stationary lot sampling is the process of randomly selecting sample units from.... * * * * * Stationary lot sampling. The process of randomly selecting sample units from a lot whose production has been... less than \\1/16\\-inch Stringy seal (excessive plastic threads showing at edge of seal 222 area...

40 CFR 98.162 - GHGs to report.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... GREENHOUSE GAS REPORTING Hydrogen Production § 98.162 GHGs to report. You must report: (a) CO2 emissions from each hydrogen production process unit. (b) [Reserved] (c) CO2, CH4, and N2O emissions from each stationary combustion unit other than hydrogen production process units. You must calculate and report these...

40 CFR 98.162 - GHGs to report.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... GREENHOUSE GAS REPORTING Hydrogen Production § 98.162 GHGs to report. You must report: (a) CO2 emissions from each hydrogen production process unit. (b) [Reserved] (c) CO2, CH4, and N2O emissions from each stationary combustion unit other than hydrogen production process units. You must calculate and report these...

40 CFR 98.162 - GHGs to report.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... GREENHOUSE GAS REPORTING Hydrogen Production § 98.162 GHGs to report. You must report: (a) CO2 emissions from each hydrogen production process unit. (b) [Reserved] (c) CO2, CH4, and N2O emissions from each stationary combustion unit other than hydrogen production process units. You must calculate and report these...

40 CFR 98.162 - GHGs to report.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... GREENHOUSE GAS REPORTING Hydrogen Production § 98.162 GHGs to report. You must report: (a) CO2 emissions from each hydrogen production process unit. (b) [Reserved] (c) CO2, CH4, and N2O emissions from each stationary combustion unit other than hydrogen production process units. You must calculate and report these...

76 FR 34031 - United States Standards for Grades of Processed Raisins

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-10

...The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is withdrawing a notice soliciting comments on its proposed revision to the United States Standards for Grades of Processed Raisins. Based on the petitioner's request to withdraw their petition, the agency has decided not to proceed with this action.

Information processing in dendrites I. Input pattern generalisation.

PubMed

Gurney, K N

2001-10-01

In this paper and its companion, we address the question as to whether there are any general principles underlying information processing in the dendritic trees of biological neurons. In order to address this question, we make two assumptions. First, the key architectural feature of dendrites responsible for many of their information processing abilities is the existence of independent sub-units performing local non-linear processing. Second, any general functional principles operate at a level of abstraction in which neurons are modelled by Boolean functions. To accommodate these assumptions, we therefore define a Boolean model neuron-the multi-cube unit (MCU)-which instantiates the notion of the discrete functional sub-unit. We then use this model unit to explore two aspects of neural functionality: generalisation (in this paper) and processing complexity (in its companion). Generalisation is dealt with from a geometric viewpoint and is quantified using a new metric-the set of order parameters. These parameters are computed for threshold logic units (TLUs), a class of random Boolean functions, and MCUs. Our interpretation of the order parameters is consistent with our knowledge of generalisation in TLUs and with the lack of generalisation in randomly chosen functions. Crucially, the order parameters for MCUs imply that these functions possess a range of generalisation behaviour. We argue that this supports the general thesis that dendrites facilitate input pattern generalisation despite any local non-linear processing within functionally isolated sub-units.

Laminated microchannel devices, mixing units and method of making same

DOEpatents

Bennett, Wendy D [Kennewick, WA; Hammerstrom, Donald J [West Richland, WA; Martin, Peter M [Kennewick, WA; Matson, Dean W [Kennewick, WA

2002-10-17

A laminated microchannel device is described in which there is a unit operation process layer that has longitudinal channel. The longitudinal channel is cut completely through the layer in which the unit process operation resides. Both the device structure and method of making the device provide significant advantages in terms of simplicity and efficiency. A static mixing unit that can be incorporated in the laminated microchannel device is also described.

A Shipping Container-Based Sterile Processing Unit for Low Resources Settings

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Deficiencies in the sterile processing of medical instruments contribute to poor outcomes for patients, such as surgical site infections, longer hospital stays, and deaths. In low resources settings, such as some rural and semi-rural areas and secondary and tertiary cities of developing countries, deficiencies in sterile processing are accentuated due to the lack of access to sterilization equipment, improperly maintained and malfunctioning equipment, lack of power to operate equipment, poor protocols, and inadequate quality control over inventory. Inspired by our sterile processing fieldwork at a district hospital in Sierra Leone in 2013, we built an autonomous, shipping-container-based sterile processing unit to address these deficiencies. The sterile processing unit, dubbed “the sterile box,” is a full suite capable of handling instruments from the moment they leave the operating room to the point they are sterile and ready to be reused for the next surgery. The sterile processing unit is self-sufficient in power and water and features an intake for contaminated instruments, decontamination, sterilization via non-electric steam sterilizers, and secure inventory storage. To validate efficacy, we ran tests of decontamination and sterilization performance. Results of 61 trials validate convincingly that our sterile processing unit achieves satisfactory outcomes for decontamination and sterilization and as such holds promise to support healthcare facilities in low resources settings. PMID:27007568

Target Information Processing: A Joint Decision and Estimation Approach

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-03-29

ground targets ( track - before - detect ) using computer cluster and graphics processing unit. Estimation and filtering theory is one of the most important...targets ( track - before - detect ) using computer cluster and graphics processing unit. Estimation and filtering theory is one of the most important

Information processing of an acquaintance rape scenario among high- and low-dissociating college women.

PubMed

Sandberg, D A; Lynn, S J; Matorin, A I

2001-07-01

To assess the impact of dissociation on information processing, 66 college women with high and low levels of trait dissociation were studied with regard to how they unitized videotape segments of an acquaintance rape scenario (actual assault not shown) and a nonthreatening control scenario. Unitization is a paradigm that measures how actively people process stimuli by recording how many times they press a button to indicate that they have seen a significant or meaningful event. Trait dissociation was negatively correlated with participants' unitization of the acquaintance rape videotape, unitization was positively correlated with danger cue identification, and state dissociation was negatively correlated with dangerousness ratings.

Medical Device Regulation: A Comparison of the United States and the European Union.

PubMed

Maak, Travis G; Wylie, James D

2016-08-01

Medical device regulation is a controversial topic in both the United States and the European Union. Many physicians and innovators in the United States cite a restrictive US FDA regulatory process as the reason for earlier and more rapid clinical advances in Europe. The FDA approval process mandates that a device be proved efficacious compared with a control or be substantially equivalent to a predicate device, whereas the European Union approval process mandates that the device perform its intended function. Stringent, peer-reviewed safety data have not been reported. However, after recent high-profile device failures, political pressure in both the United States and the European Union has favored more restrictive approval processes. Substantial reforms of the European Union process within the next 5 to 10 years will result in a more stringent approach to device regulation, similar to that of the FDA. Changes in the FDA regulatory process have been suggested but are not imminent.

32 CFR 516.10 - Service of civil process within the United States.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Service of civil process within the United States. 516.10 Section 516.10 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY AID OF CIVIL AUTHORITIES AND PUBLIC RELATIONS LITIGATION Service of Process § 516.10 Service of civil process...

32 CFR 516.10 - Service of civil process within the United States.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 32 National Defense 3 2011-07-01 2009-07-01 true Service of civil process within the United States. 516.10 Section 516.10 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY AID OF CIVIL AUTHORITIES AND PUBLIC RELATIONS LITIGATION Service of Process § 516.10 Service of civil process...

43 CFR 429.37 - Does interest accrue on monies owed to the United States during my appeal process?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... United States during my appeal process? 429.37 Section 429.37 Public Lands: Interior Regulations Relating... States during my appeal process? Except for any period in the appeal process during which a stay is then... decision to OHA, or during judicial review of final agency action. ...

40 CFR 98.73 - Calculating GHG emissions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... (CONTINUED) MANDATORY GREENHOUSE GAS REPORTING Ammonia Manufacturing § 98.73 Calculating GHG emissions. You must calculate and report the annual process CO2 emissions from each ammonia manufacturing process unit... ammonia manufacturing unit, the CO2 process emissions from gaseous feedstock according to Equation G-1 of...

40 CFR 98.73 - Calculating GHG emissions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... (CONTINUED) MANDATORY GREENHOUSE GAS REPORTING Ammonia Manufacturing § 98.73 Calculating GHG emissions. You must calculate and report the annual process CO2 emissions from each ammonia manufacturing process unit... ammonia manufacturing unit, the CO2 process emissions from gaseous feedstock according to Equation G-1 of...

40 CFR 98.73 - Calculating GHG emissions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... (CONTINUED) MANDATORY GREENHOUSE GAS REPORTING Ammonia Manufacturing § 98.73 Calculating GHG emissions. You must calculate and report the annual process CO2 emissions from each ammonia manufacturing process unit... ammonia manufacturing unit, the CO2 process emissions from gaseous feedstock according to Equation G-1 of...

40 CFR 98.73 - Calculating GHG emissions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... (CONTINUED) MANDATORY GREENHOUSE GAS REPORTING Ammonia Manufacturing § 98.73 Calculating GHG emissions. You must calculate and report the annual process CO2 emissions from each ammonia manufacturing process unit... ammonia manufacturing unit, the CO2 process emissions from gaseous feedstock according to Equation G-1 of...

40 CFR 98.73 - Calculating GHG emissions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... (CONTINUED) MANDATORY GREENHOUSE GAS REPORTING Ammonia Manufacturing § 98.73 Calculating GHG emissions. You must calculate and report the annual process CO2 emissions from each ammonia manufacturing process unit... ammonia manufacturing unit, the CO2 process emissions from gaseous feedstock according to Equation G-1 of...

20 CFR 655.50 - Enforcement process.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 3 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Enforcement process. 655.50 Section 655.50... FOREIGN WORKERS IN THE UNITED STATES Labor Certification Process and Enforcement of Attestations for Temporary Employment in Occupations Other Than Agriculture or Registered Nursing in the United States (H-2B...

40 CFR 63.1082 - What definitions do I need to know?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

...) National Emission Standards for Ethylene Manufacturing Process Units: Heat Exchange Systems and Waste... resulting from the quench and compression of cracked gas (the cracking furnace effluent) at an ethylene... within an ethylene production unit. Process wastewater is not organic wastes, process fluids, product...

Female Participation in Formed Police Units: A Report on the Integration of Women in Formed Police Units of Peacekeeping Operations

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-09-01

the preservation of evidence or due process in mind. In contrast, police operations accept significant tacti- cal restraints military units...generally do not in order to assure due process and preserve evidence. A police action, such as an arrest, that involves maneuver and/or weapons is only...and the unique role they can play in the peace process . Resolution 1325, adopted in 2000, 9 holds a promise to women across the globe that their

Wellbore manufacturing processes for in situ heat treatment processes

DOEpatents

Davidson, Ian Alexander; Geddes, Cameron James; Rudolf, Randall Lynn; Selby, Bruce Allen; MacDonald, Duncan Charles

2012-12-11

A method includes making coiled tubing at a coiled tubing manufacturing unit coupled to a coiled tubing transportation system. One or more coiled tubing reels are transported from the coiled tubing manufacturing unit to one or more moveable well drilling systems using the coiled tubing transportation system. The coiled tubing transportation system runs from the tubing manufacturing unit to one or more movable well drilling systems, and then back to the coiled tubing manufacturing unit.

Associative list processing unit

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hemmert, Karl Scott; Underwood, Keith D

2014-04-01

An associative list processing unit and method comprising employing a plurality of prioritized cell blocks and permitting inserts to occur in a single clock cycle if all of the cell blocks are not full.

20 CFR 655.60 - Violations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... WORKERS IN THE UNITED STATES Labor Certification Process and Enforcement of Attestations for Temporary Employment in Occupations Other Than Agriculture or Registered Nursing in the United States (H-2B Workers... application process. ...

A containerless levitation setup for liquid processing in a superconducting magnet.

PubMed

Lu, Hui-Meng; Yin, Da-Chuan; Li, Hai-Sheng; Geng, Li-Qiang; Zhang, Chen-Yan; Lu, Qin-Qin; Guo, Yun-Zhu; Guo, Wei-Hong; Shang, Peng; Wakayama, Nobuko I

2008-09-01

Containerless processing of materials is considered beneficial for obtaining high quality products due to the elimination of the detrimental effects coming from the contact with container walls. Many containerless processing methods are realized by levitation techniques. This paper describes a containerless levitation setup that utilized the magnetization force generated in a gradient magnetic field. It comprises a levitation unit, a temperature control unit, and a real-time observation unit. Known volume of liquid diamagnetic samples can be levitated in the levitation chamber, the temperature of which is controlled using the temperature control unit. The evolution of the levitated sample is observed in real time using the observation unit. With this setup, containerless processing of liquid such as crystal growth from solution can be realized in a well-controlled manner. Since the levitation is achieved using a superconducting magnet, experiments requiring long duration time such as protein crystallization and simulation of space environment for living system can be easily succeeded.

40 CFR 98.72 - GHGs to report.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... GREENHOUSE GAS REPORTING Ammonia Manufacturing § 98.72 GHGs to report. You must report: (a) CO2 process..., reported for each ammonia manufacturing process unit following the requirements of this subpart (CO2... production, and therefore is not released to the ambient air from the ammonia manufacturing process unit). (b...

40 CFR 98.72 - GHGs to report.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... GREENHOUSE GAS REPORTING Ammonia Manufacturing § 98.72 GHGs to report. You must report: (a) CO2 process..., reported for each ammonia manufacturing process unit following the requirements of this subpart (CO2... production, and therefore is not released to the ambient air from the ammonia manufacturing process unit). (b...

40 CFR 98.72 - GHGs to report.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... GREENHOUSE GAS REPORTING Ammonia Manufacturing § 98.72 GHGs to report. You must report: (a) CO2 process..., reported for each ammonia manufacturing process unit following the requirements of this subpart (CO2... production, and therefore is not released to the ambient air from the ammonia manufacturing process unit). (b...

40 CFR 98.72 - GHGs to report.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... GREENHOUSE GAS REPORTING Ammonia Manufacturing § 98.72 GHGs to report. You must report: (a) CO2 process..., reported for each ammonia manufacturing process unit following the requirements of this subpart (CO2... production, and therefore is not released to the ambient air from the ammonia manufacturing process unit). (b...

78 FR 19019 - Labor Certification Process for the Temporary Employment of Aliens in Agriculture in the United...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-03-28

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employment and Training Administration Labor Certification Process for the Temporary Employment of Aliens in Agriculture in the United States: Prevailing Wage Rates for Certain Occupations Processed Under H-2A Special Procedures; Correction and Rescission AGENCY: Employment and Training...

40 CFR 63.107 - Identification of process vents subject to this subpart.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... CATEGORIES National Emission Standards for Organic Hazardous Air Pollutants From the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturing Industry § 63.107 Identification of process vents subject to this subpart. (a) The..., distillation unit, or reactor during operation of the chemical manufacturing process unit. (c) The discharge to...

40 CFR 63.107 - Identification of process vents subject to this subpart.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... CATEGORIES National Emission Standards for Organic Hazardous Air Pollutants From the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturing Industry § 63.107 Identification of process vents subject to this subpart. (a) The..., distillation unit, or reactor during operation of the chemical manufacturing process unit. (c) The discharge to...

40 CFR 63.107 - Identification of process vents subject to this subpart.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... CATEGORIES National Emission Standards for Organic Hazardous Air Pollutants From the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturing Industry § 63.107 Identification of process vents subject to this subpart. (a) The..., distillation unit, or reactor during operation of the chemical manufacturing process unit. (c) The discharge to...

A Foreign Correspondent's View of the Electoral Process.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gardner, Mary A. Ed.

According to their personal points of view regarding United States politics, a panel of foreign correspondents from other nations evaluated the United States electoral process and discussed the difficulties involved in conveying the complexities of this process to an audience. This document contains an edited transcript of the panel's comments.…

Atmospheric Processing Platform | Photovoltaic Research | NREL

Science.gov Websites

printing units to the left and sample preparation and rapid thermal processing units to the right. In variety of substrates and then further process into optoelectronic materials using rapid thermal , however, occur within a vacuum (i.e., thermal evaporation, sputtering). Samples can remain in ambient

Characterization of suspended bacteria from processing units in an advanced drinking water treatment plant of China.

PubMed

Wang, Feng; Li, Weiying; Zhang, Junpeng; Qi, Wanqi; Zhou, Yanyan; Xiang, Yuan; Shi, Nuo

2017-05-01

For the drinking water treatment plant (DWTP), the organic pollutant removal was the primary focus, while the suspended bacterial was always neglected. In this study, the suspended bacteria from each processing unit in a DWTP employing an ozone-biological activated carbon process was mainly characterized by using heterotrophic plate counts (HPCs), a flow cytometer, and 454-pyrosequencing methods. The results showed that an adverse changing tendency of HPC and total cell counts was observed in the sand filtration tank (SFT), where the cultivability of suspended bacteria increased to 34%. However, the cultivability level of other units stayed below 3% except for ozone contact tank (OCT, 13.5%) and activated carbon filtration tank (ACFT, 34.39%). It meant that filtration processes promoted the increase in cultivability of suspended bacteria remarkably, which indicated biodegrading capability. In the unit of OCT, microbial diversity indexes declined drastically, and the dominant bacteria were affiliated to Proteobacteria phylum (99.9%) and Betaproteobacteria class (86.3%), which were also the dominant bacteria in the effluent of other units. Besides, the primary genus was Limnohabitans in the effluents of SFT (17.4%) as well as ACFT (25.6%), which was inferred to be the crucial contributors for the biodegradable function in the filtration units. Overall, this paper provided an overview of community composition of each processing units in a DWTP as well as reference for better developing microbial function for drinking water treatment in the future.

State and Local Publications | State, Local, and Tribal Governments | NREL

Science.gov Websites

residential and small commercial photovoltaic interconnection process time frames in the United States . Understanding Processes and Timelines for Distributed Photovoltaic Interconnection in the United States analyzes

Unit Process Wetlands for Removal of Trace Organic Contaminants and Pathogens from Municipal Wastewater Effluents

PubMed Central

Jasper, Justin T.; Nguyen, Mi T.; Jones, Zackary L.; Ismail, Niveen S.; Sedlak, David L.; Sharp, Jonathan O.; Luthy, Richard G.; Horne, Alex J.; Nelson, Kara L.

2013-01-01

Abstract Treatment wetlands have become an attractive option for the removal of nutrients from municipal wastewater effluents due to their low energy requirements and operational costs, as well as the ancillary benefits they provide, including creating aesthetically appealing spaces and wildlife habitats. Treatment wetlands also hold promise as a means of removing other wastewater-derived contaminants, such as trace organic contaminants and pathogens. However, concerns about variations in treatment efficacy of these pollutants, coupled with an incomplete mechanistic understanding of their removal in wetlands, hinder the widespread adoption of constructed wetlands for these two classes of contaminants. A better understanding is needed so that wetlands as a unit process can be designed for their removal, with individual wetland cells optimized for the removal of specific contaminants, and connected in series or integrated with other engineered or natural treatment processes. In this article, removal mechanisms of trace organic contaminants and pathogens are reviewed, including sorption and sedimentation, biotransformation and predation, photolysis and photoinactivation, and remaining knowledge gaps are identified. In addition, suggestions are provided for how these treatment mechanisms can be enhanced in commonly employed unit process wetland cells or how they might be harnessed in novel unit process cells. It is hoped that application of the unit process concept to a wider range of contaminants will lead to more widespread application of wetland treatment trains as components of urban water infrastructure in the United States and around the globe. PMID:23983451

Unit Process Wetlands for Removal of Trace Organic Contaminants and Pathogens from Municipal Wastewater Effluents.

PubMed

Jasper, Justin T; Nguyen, Mi T; Jones, Zackary L; Ismail, Niveen S; Sedlak, David L; Sharp, Jonathan O; Luthy, Richard G; Horne, Alex J; Nelson, Kara L

2013-08-01

Treatment wetlands have become an attractive option for the removal of nutrients from municipal wastewater effluents due to their low energy requirements and operational costs, as well as the ancillary benefits they provide, including creating aesthetically appealing spaces and wildlife habitats. Treatment wetlands also hold promise as a means of removing other wastewater-derived contaminants, such as trace organic contaminants and pathogens. However, concerns about variations in treatment efficacy of these pollutants, coupled with an incomplete mechanistic understanding of their removal in wetlands, hinder the widespread adoption of constructed wetlands for these two classes of contaminants. A better understanding is needed so that wetlands as a unit process can be designed for their removal, with individual wetland cells optimized for the removal of specific contaminants, and connected in series or integrated with other engineered or natural treatment processes. In this article, removal mechanisms of trace organic contaminants and pathogens are reviewed, including sorption and sedimentation, biotransformation and predation, photolysis and photoinactivation, and remaining knowledge gaps are identified. In addition, suggestions are provided for how these treatment mechanisms can be enhanced in commonly employed unit process wetland cells or how they might be harnessed in novel unit process cells. It is hoped that application of the unit process concept to a wider range of contaminants will lead to more widespread application of wetland treatment trains as components of urban water infrastructure in the United States and around the globe.

Distributed trace using central performance counter memory

DOEpatents

Satterfield, David L; Sexton, James C

2013-10-22

A plurality of processing cores, are central storage unit having at least memory connected in a daisy chain manner, forming a daisy chain ring layout on an integrated chip. At least one of the plurality of processing cores places trace data on the daisy chain connection for transmitting the trace data to the central storage unit, and the central storage unit detects the trace data and stores the trace data in the memory co-located in with the central storage unit.

Distributed trace using central performance counter memory

DOEpatents

Satterfield, David L.; Sexton, James C.

2013-01-22

A plurality of processing cores, are central storage unit having at least memory connected in a daisy chain manner, forming a daisy chain ring layout on an integrated chip. At least one of the plurality of processing cores places trace data on the daisy chain connection for transmitting the trace data to the central storage unit, and the central storage unit detects the trace data and stores the trace data in the memory co-located in with the central storage unit.

37 CFR 2.190 - Addresses for trademark correspondence with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... recordation; requests for copies of trademark documents; and certain documents filed under the Madrid Protocol... to review an action of the Office's Madrid Processing Unit, when filed by mail, must be mailed to: Madrid Processing Unit, 600 Dulany Street, MDE-7B87, Alexandria, VA 22314-5793. [68 FR 48289, Aug. 13...

37 CFR 2.190 - Addresses for trademark correspondence with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... recordation; requests for copies of trademark documents; and certain documents filed under the Madrid Protocol... to review an action of the Office's Madrid Processing Unit, when filed by mail, must be mailed to: Madrid Processing Unit, 600 Dulany Street, MDE-7B87, Alexandria, VA 22314-5793. [68 FR 48289, Aug. 13...

37 CFR 2.190 - Addresses for trademark correspondence with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... recordation; requests for copies of trademark documents; and certain documents filed under the Madrid Protocol... to review an action of the Office's Madrid Processing Unit, when filed by mail, must be mailed to: Madrid Processing Unit, 600 Dulany Street, MDE-7B87, Alexandria, VA 22314-5793. [68 FR 48289, Aug. 13...

37 CFR 2.190 - Addresses for trademark correspondence with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... recordation; requests for copies of trademark documents; and certain documents filed under the Madrid Protocol... to review an action of the Office's Madrid Processing Unit, when filed by mail, must be mailed to: Madrid Processing Unit, 600 Dulany Street, MDE-7B87, Alexandria, VA 22314-5793. [68 FR 48289, Aug. 13...

Nontimber forest products in the United States: Montreal Process indicators as measures of current conditions and sustainability

Treesearch

Susan J. Alexander; Sonja N. Oswalt; Marla R. Emery

2011-01-01

The United States, in partnership with 11 other countries, participates in the Montreal Process. Each country assesses national progress toward the sustainable management of forest resources by using a set of criteria and indicators agreed on by all member countries. Several indicators focus on nontimber forest products (NTFPs). In the United States, permit and...

Innovation and Technology: Electronic Intensive Care Unit Diaries.

PubMed

Scruth, Elizabeth A; Oveisi, Nazanin; Liu, Vincent

2017-01-01

Hospitalization in the intensive care unit can be a stressful time for patients and their family members. Patients' family members often have difficulty processing all of the information that is given to them. Therefore, an intensive care unit diary can serve as a conduit for synthesizing information, maintaining connection with patients, and maintaining a connection with family members outside the intensive care unit. Paper intensive care unit diaries have been used outside the United States for many years. This article explores the development of an electronic intensive care unit diary using a rapid prototyping model to accelerate the process. Initial results of design testing demonstrate that it is feasible, useful, and desirable to consider the implementation of electronic intensive care unit diaries for patients at risk for post-intensive care syndrome. ©2017 American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.

Business Process Improvement Applied to Written Temporary Duty Travel Orders within the United States Air Force

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-12-01

Generally Accepted Process While neither DoD Directives nor USAF Regulations specify exact mandatory TDY order processing methods, most USAF units...functional input. Finally, TDY order processing functional experts at Hanscom, Los Angeles and McClellan AFBs provided inputs based on their experiences...current electronic auditing capabilities. 81 DTPS Initiative. This DFAS-initiated action to standardize TDY order processing throughout DoD is currently

Complex of technologies and prototype systems for eco-friendly shutdown of the power-generating, process, capacitive, and transport equipment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smorodin, A. I.; Red'kin, V. V.; Frolov, Y. D.; Korobkov, A. A.; Kemaev, O. V.; Kulik, M. V.; Shabalin, O. V.

2015-07-01

A set of technologies and prototype systems for eco-friendly shutdown of the power-generating, process, capacitive, and transport equipment is offered. The following technologies are regarded as core technologies for the complex: cryogenic technology nitrogen for displacement of hydrogen from the cooling circuit of turbine generators, cryo blasting of the power units by dioxide granules, preservation of the shutdown power units by dehydrated air, and dismantling and severing of equipment and structural materials of power units. Four prototype systems for eco-friendly shutdown of the power units may be built on the basis of selected technologies: Multimode nitrogen cryogenic system with four subsystems, cryo blasting system with CO2 granules for thermal-mechanical and electrical equipment of power units, and compressionless air-drainage systems for drying and storage of the shutdown power units and cryo-gas system for general severing of the steam-turbine power units. Results of the research and pilot and demonstration tests of the operational units of the considered technological systems allow applying the proposed technologies and systems in the prototype systems for shutdown of the power-generating, process, capacitive, and transport equipment.

A centerless grinding unit used for precisely processing ferrules of optical fiber connector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Yongbo; Kondo, Takahiro; Kato, Masana

2005-02-01

This paper describes the development of a centerless grinding unit used for precisely processing ferrules, a key component of optical fiber connectors. In conventional processing procedure, the outer diameter of a ferrule is ground by employing a special machine tool, i.e., centerless grinder. However, in the case of processing small amount of ferrules, introducing a centerless grinder leads to high processing cost. Therefore, in order to take measures against this problem, the present authors propose a new centerless grinding technique where a compact centerless grinding unit, which is composed of an ultrasonic elliptic-vibration shoe, a workrest blade, and their respective holders, is installed on a popular surface grinder to perform the centerless grinding operations for outer diameter machining of ferrules. In this work, a unit is designed and constructed, and is installed on a surface grinder equipped with a diamond grinding wheel. Then, the performance of the unit is examined experimentally followed by grinding tests of ferrule"s outer diameter. As a result, the roundness of the ferrule"s outer diameter improved from the original value of around 3μm to the final value of around 0.5 μm, confirming the validity of the new technique.

40 CFR 63.773 - Inspection and monitoring requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... devices: (i) Except for control devices for small glycol dehydration units, a boiler or process heater in...) Except for control devices for small glycol dehydration units, a boiler or process heater with a design...

40 CFR 63.773 - Inspection and monitoring requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... devices: (i) Except for control devices for small glycol dehydration units, a boiler or process heater in...) Except for control devices for small glycol dehydration units, a boiler or process heater with a design...

Status of the Monte Carlo library least-squares (MCLLS) approach for non-linear radiation analyzer problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gardner, Robin P.; Xu, Libai

2009-10-01

The Center for Engineering Applications of Radioisotopes (CEAR) has been working for over a decade on the Monte Carlo library least-squares (MCLLS) approach for treating non-linear radiation analyzer problems including: (1) prompt gamma-ray neutron activation analysis (PGNAA) for bulk analysis, (2) energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) analyzers, and (3) carbon/oxygen tool analysis in oil well logging. This approach essentially consists of using Monte Carlo simulation to generate the libraries of all the elements to be analyzed plus any other required background libraries. These libraries are then used in the linear library least-squares (LLS) approach with unknown sample spectra to analyze for all elements in the sample. Iterations of this are used until the LLS values agree with the composition used to generate the libraries. The current status of the methods (and topics) necessary to implement the MCLLS approach is reported. This includes: (1) the Monte Carlo codes such as CEARXRF, CEARCPG, and CEARCO for forward generation of the necessary elemental library spectra for the LLS calculation for X-ray fluorescence, neutron capture prompt gamma-ray analyzers, and carbon/oxygen tools; (2) the correction of spectral pulse pile-up (PPU) distortion by Monte Carlo simulation with the code CEARIPPU; (3) generation of detector response functions (DRF) for detectors with linear and non-linear responses for Monte Carlo simulation of pulse-height spectra; and (4) the use of the differential operator (DO) technique to make the necessary iterations for non-linear responses practical. In addition to commonly analyzed single spectra, coincidence spectra or even two-dimensional (2-D) coincidence spectra can also be used in the MCLLS approach and may provide more accurate results.

Antioxidant properties and hyphenated HPLC-PDA-MS profiling of Chilean Pica mango fruits (Mangifera indica L. Cv. piqueño).

PubMed

Ramirez, Javier E; Zambrano, Ricardo; Sepúlveda, Beatriz; Simirgiotis, Mario J

2013-12-31

Antioxidant capacities and polyphenolic contents of two mango cultivars from northern Chile, one of them endemic of an oasis in the Atacama Desert, were compared for the first time. Twenty one phenolic compounds were detected in peel and pulp of mango fruits varieties Pica and Tommy Atkins by HPLC-PDA-MS and tentatively characterized. Eighteen compounds were present in Pica pulp (ppu), 13 in Pica peel (ppe) 11 in Tommy Atkins pulp (tpu) and 12 in Tommy Atkins peel (tpe). Three procyanidin dimers (peaks 6, 9 and 10), seven acid derivatives (peaks 1-4, 11, 20 and 21) and four xanthones were identified, mainly mangiferin (peak 12) and mangiferin gallate, (peak 7), which were present in both peel and pulp of the two studied species from northern Chile. Homomangiferin (peak 13) was also present in both fruit pulps and dimethylmangiferin (peak 14) was present only in Tommy pulp. Pica fruits showed better antioxidant capacities and higher polyphenolic content (73.76/32.23 µg/mL in the DPPH assay and 32.49/72.01 mg GAE/100 g fresh material in the TPC assay, for edible pulp and peel, respectively) than Tommy Atkins fruits (127.22/46.39 µg/mL in the DPPH assay and 25.03/72.01 mg GAE/100 g fresh material in the TPC assay for pulp and peel, respectively). The peel of Pica mangoes showed also the highest content of phenolics (66.02 mg/100 g FW) measured by HPLC-PDA. The HPLC generated fingerprint can be used to authenticate Pica mango fruits and Pica mango food products.

Interaction of air shock waves and porous compressible materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gvozdeva, L. G.; Faresov, Yu. M.; Fokeyev, V. P.

1986-05-01

Interaction of air shock waves and porous compressible materials was studied in an experiment with two foam-plastic materials: PPU-3M-1 polyurethane (density 33 kg/cu m) and much more rigid PKhV-1 polyvinyl chloride (density 50 kg/cu m). Tests were performed in a shock tube with 0.1x0.1 m square cross-section, a single diaphragm separating its 8 m long low-pressure segment with inspection zone and 1.5 m long high-pressure segment. The instrumentation included an array of piezoelectric pressure transducers and a digital frequency meter for velocity measurements, a Tectronix 451A oscillograph, and IAB-451 shadowgraph, and a ZhFR camera with slit scanning. Air was used as compressing gas, its initial pressure being varied from 10(3) Pa to 10(5) Pa, helium and nitrogen were used as propelling gas. The impact velocity of shock waves was varied over the N(M) = 2-5 range of the Mach number. The maximum amplitude of the pressure pulse increased as the thickness of the foam layer was increased up to 80 mm and then remained constant with further increases of that thickness, at a level depending on the material and on the intitial conditions. A maximum pressure rise by a factor of approximately 10 was attained, with 1.3 x 10(3) Pa initial pressure and an impact velocity N(M) = 5. Reducing the initial pressure to below (0.1-0.3) x 10(3) Pa, with the impact velocity maintained at N(M) = 5, reduced the pressure rise to a factor below 3. The results are interpreted taking into account elasticity forces in the solid skeleton phase and gas filtration through the pores.

32 CFR 516.9 - Service of criminal process within the United States.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Service of criminal process within the United States. 516.9 Section 516.9 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY AID OF CIVIL AUTHORITIES AND PUBLIC RELATIONS LITIGATION Service of Process § 516.9 Service of criminal...

32 CFR 516.12 - Service of civil process outside the United States.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Service of civil process outside the United States. 516.12 Section 516.12 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY AID OF CIVIL AUTHORITIES AND PUBLIC RELATIONS LITIGATION Service of Process § 516.12 Service of civil...

32 CFR 516.11 - Service of criminal process outside the United States.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Service of criminal process outside the United States. 516.11 Section 516.11 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY AID OF CIVIL AUTHORITIES AND PUBLIC RELATIONS LITIGATION Service of Process § 516.11 Service of...

Graphic Arts: Book Two. Process Camera, Stripping, and Platemaking.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Farajollahi, Karim; And Others

The second of a three-volume set of instructional materials for a course in graphic arts, this manual consists of 10 instructional units dealing with the process camera, stripping, and platemaking. Covered in the individual units are the process camera and darkroom photography, line photography, half-tone photography, other darkroom techniques,…

40 CFR 63.149 - Control requirements for certain liquid streams in open systems within a chemical manufacturing...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... streams in open systems within a chemical manufacturing process unit. 63.149 Section 63.149 Protection of... open systems within a chemical manufacturing process unit. (a) The owner or operator shall comply with... Air Pollutants From the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturing Industry for Process Vents, Storage...

Milk Processing Plant Employee. Agricultural Cooperative Training. Vocational Agriculture.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blaschke, Nolan; Page, Foy

This course of study is designed for the vocational agricultural student enrolled in an agricultural cooperative part-time training program in the area of milk processing occupations. The course consists of 11 units, each with 4 to 13 individual topics that milk processing plant employees should know. Subjects covered by the units are the…

Suggested Guidelines for the Administrative Review Offices of Medical Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meleca, C. Benjamin

1987-01-01

A general description and guidelines are presented for a program review process for departments of medical education of the administrative units within colleges of medicine. After a discussion of the purposes of reviews, a suggested review process is described. The process to be utilized should be negotiated by the principle units, the…

Process Design Manual for Land Treatment of Municipal Wastewater.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crites, R.; And Others

This manual presents a procedure for the design of land treatment systems. Slow rate, rapid infiltration, and overland flow processes for the treatment of municipal wastewaters are given emphasis. The basic unit operations and unit processes are discussed in detail, and the design concepts and criteria are presented. The manual includes design…

40 CFR 98.162 - GHGs to report.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... GREENHOUSE GAS REPORTING Hydrogen Production § 98.162 GHGs to report. You must report: (a) CO2 process emissions from each hydrogen production process unit. (b) CO2, CH4 and N2O combustion emissions from each hydrogen production process unit. You must calculate and report these combustion emissions under subpart C...

Aerobic Digestion. Biological Treatment Process Control. Instructor's Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klopping, Paul H.

This unit on aerobic sludge digestion covers the theory of the process, system components, factors that affect the process performance, standard operational concerns, indicators of steady-state operations, and operational problems. The instructor's guide includes: (1) an overview of the unit; (2) lesson plan; (3) lecture outline (keyed to a set of…

Using Mathematica to Teach Process Units: A Distillation Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rasteiro, Maria G.; Bernardo, Fernando P.; Saraiva, Pedro M.

2005-01-01

The question addressed here is how to integrate computational tools, namely interactive general-purpose platforms, in the teaching of process units. Mathematica has been selected as a complementary tool to teach distillation processes, with the main objective of leading students to achieve a better understanding of the physical phenomena involved…

32 CFR 516.12 - Service of civil process outside the United States.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 32 National Defense 3 2011-07-01 2009-07-01 true Service of civil process outside the United States. 516.12 Section 516.12 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY AID OF CIVIL AUTHORITIES AND PUBLIC RELATIONS LITIGATION Service of Process § 516.12 Service of civil...

32 CFR 516.9 - Service of criminal process within the United States.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 32 National Defense 3 2011-07-01 2009-07-01 true Service of criminal process within the United States. 516.9 Section 516.9 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY AID OF CIVIL AUTHORITIES AND PUBLIC RELATIONS LITIGATION Service of Process § 516.9 Service of criminal...

32 CFR 516.11 - Service of criminal process outside the United States.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 32 National Defense 3 2011-07-01 2009-07-01 true Service of criminal process outside the United States. 516.11 Section 516.11 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY AID OF CIVIL AUTHORITIES AND PUBLIC RELATIONS LITIGATION Service of Process § 516.11 Service of...

Process for Making Carbon-Carbon Turbocharger Housing Unit for Intermittent Combustion Engines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Northam, G. Burton (Inventor); Ransone, Philip O. (Inventor); Rivers, H. Kevin (Inventor)

1999-01-01

An improved. lightweight, turbine housing unit for an intermittent combustion reciprocating internal combustion engine turbocharger is prepared from a lay-up or molding of carbon-carbon composite materials in a single-piece or two-piece process. When compared to conventional steel or cast iron, the use of carbon-carbon composite materials in a turbine housing unit reduces the overall weight of the engine and reduces the heat energy loss used in the turbo-charging process. This reduction in heat energy loss and weight reduction provides for more efficient engine operation.

Model for mapping settlements

DOEpatents

Vatsavai, Ranga Raju; Graesser, Jordan B.; Bhaduri, Budhendra L.

2016-07-05

A programmable media includes a graphical processing unit in communication with a memory element. The graphical processing unit is configured to detect one or more settlement regions from a high resolution remote sensed image based on the execution of programming code. The graphical processing unit identifies one or more settlements through the execution of the programming code that executes a multi-instance learning algorithm that models portions of the high resolution remote sensed image. The identification is based on spectral bands transmitted by a satellite and on selected designations of the image patches.

Modular Toolkit for Data Processing (MDP): A Python Data Processing Framework.

PubMed

Zito, Tiziano; Wilbert, Niko; Wiskott, Laurenz; Berkes, Pietro

2008-01-01

Modular toolkit for Data Processing (MDP) is a data processing framework written in Python. From the user's perspective, MDP is a collection of supervised and unsupervised learning algorithms and other data processing units that can be combined into data processing sequences and more complex feed-forward network architectures. Computations are performed efficiently in terms of speed and memory requirements. From the scientific developer's perspective, MDP is a modular framework, which can easily be expanded. The implementation of new algorithms is easy and intuitive. The new implemented units are then automatically integrated with the rest of the library. MDP has been written in the context of theoretical research in neuroscience, but it has been designed to be helpful in any context where trainable data processing algorithms are used. Its simplicity on the user's side, the variety of readily available algorithms, and the reusability of the implemented units make it also a useful educational tool.

Noise, chaos, and (ɛ, τ)-entropy per unit time

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaspard, Pierre; Wang, Xiao-Jing

1993-12-01

The degree of dynamical randomness of different time processes is characterized in terms of the (ε, τ)-entropy per unit time. The (ε, τ)-entropy is the amount of information generated per unit time, at different scales τ of time and ε of the observables. This quantity generalizes the Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy per unit time from deterministic chaotic processes, to stochastic processes such as fluctuations in mesoscopic physico-chemical phenomena or strong turbulence in macroscopic spacetime dynamics. The random processes that are characterized include chaotic systems, Bernoulli and Markov chains, Poisson and birth-and-death processes, Ornstein-Uhlenbeck and Yaglom noises, fractional Brownian motions, different regimes of hydrodynamical turbulence, and the Lorentz-Boltzmann process of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics. We also extend the (ε, τ)-entropy to spacetime processes like cellular automata, Conway's game of life, lattice gas automata, coupled maps, spacetime chaos in partial differential equations, as well as the ideal, the Lorentz, and the hard sphere gases. Through these examples it is demonstrated that the (ε, τ)-entropy provides a unified quantitative measure of dynamical randomness to both chaos and noises, and a method to detect transitions between dynamical states of different degrees of randomness as a parameter of the system is varied.

40 CFR 65.118 - Alternative means of emission limitation: Enclosed-vented process units.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) CONSOLIDATED FEDERAL AIR RULE Equipment Leaks § 65.118... control device. Process units that are enclosed in such a manner that all emissions from equipment leaks...

Method and apparatus for fault tolerance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Masson, Gerald M. (Inventor); Sullivan, Gregory F. (Inventor)

1993-01-01

A method and apparatus for achieving fault tolerance in a computer system having at least a first central processing unit and a second central processing unit. The method comprises the steps of first executing a first algorithm in the first central processing unit on input which produces a first output as well as a certification trail. Next, executing a second algorithm in the second central processing unit on the input and on at least a portion of the certification trail which produces a second output. The second algorithm has a faster execution time than the first algorithm for a given input. Then, comparing the first and second outputs such that an error result is produced if the first and second outputs are not the same. The step of executing a first algorithm and the step of executing a second algorithm preferably takes place over essentially the same time period.

High Power Silicon Carbide (SiC) Power Processing Unit Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scheidegger, Robert J.; Santiago, Walter; Bozak, Karin E.; Pinero, Luis R.; Birchenough, Arthur G.

2015-01-01

NASA GRC successfully designed, built and tested a technology-push power processing unit for electric propulsion applications that utilizes high voltage silicon carbide (SiC) technology. The development specifically addresses the need for high power electronics to enable electric propulsion systems in the 100s of kilowatts. This unit demonstrated how high voltage combined with superior semiconductor components resulted in exceptional converter performance.

KSC-2012-6382

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-12-04

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Inside the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers have prepared the orbital replacement unit for the space station's main bus switching unit to be placed in a shipping container. The unit, which was processed at Kennedy, will be shipped to Japan at the beginning of the year for the HTV-4 launch, which is currently scheduled for 2013. Photo credit: NASA/Charisse Nahser

KSC-2012-6378

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-12-04

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Workers inside the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida prepare to pack the orbital replacement unit for the space station's main bus switching unit in a shipping container. The unit, which was processed at Kennedy, will be shipped to Japan at the beginning of the year for the HTV-4 launch, which is currently scheduled for 2013. Photo credit: NASA/Charisse Nahser

KSC-2012-6379

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-12-04

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Workers inside the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida prepare to pack the orbital replacement unit for the space station's main bus switching unit in a shipping container. The unit, which was processed at Kennedy, will be shipped to Japan at the beginning of the year for the HTV-4 launch, which is currently scheduled for 2013. Photo credit: NASA/Charisse Nahser

Developing and Evaluating an Eighth Grade Curriculum Unit That Links Foundational Chemistry to Biological Growth: Designing Professional Development to Support Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kruse, Rebecca; Howes, Elaine V.; Carlson, Janet; Roth, Kathleen; Bourdelat-Parks, Brooke

2013-01-01

AAAS and BSCS are collaborating to develop and study a curriculum unit that supports students' ability to explain a variety of biological processes such as growth in chemical terms. The unit provides conceptual coherence between chemical processes in nonliving and living systems through the core idea of atom rearrangement and conservation during…

Evaluation of virus reduction efficiency in wastewater treatment unit processes as a credit value in the multiple-barrier system for wastewater reclamation and reuse.

PubMed

Ito, Toshihiro; Kato, Tsuyoshi; Hasegawa, Makoto; Katayama, Hiroyuki; Ishii, Satoshi; Okabe, Satoshi; Sano, Daisuke

2016-12-01

The virus reduction efficiency of each unit process is commonly determined based on the ratio of virus concentration in influent to that in effluent of a unit, but the virus concentration in wastewater has often fallen below the analytical quantification limit, which does not allow us to calculate the concentration ratio at each sampling event. In this study, left-censored datasets of norovirus (genogroup I and II), and adenovirus were used to calculate the virus reduction efficiency in unit processes of secondary biological treatment and chlorine disinfection. Virus concentration in influent, effluent from the secondary treatment, and chlorine-disinfected effluent of four municipal wastewater treatment plants were analyzed by a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) approach, and the probabilistic distributions of log reduction (LR) were estimated by a Bayesian estimation algorithm. The mean values of LR in the secondary treatment units ranged from 0.9 and 2.2, whereas those in the free chlorine disinfection units were from -0.1 and 0.5. The LR value in the secondary treatment was virus type and unit process dependent, which raised the importance for accumulating the data of virus LR values applicable to the multiple-barrier system, which is a global concept of microbial risk management in wastewater reclamation and reuse.

A portable device for rapid nondestructive detection of fresh meat quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Wan; Peng, Yankun

2014-05-01

Quality attributes of fresh meat influence nutritional value and consumers' purchasing power. In order to meet the demand of inspection department for portable device, a rapid and nondestructive detection device for fresh meat quality based on ARM (Advanced RISC Machines) processor and VIS/NIR technology was designed. Working principal, hardware composition, software system and functional test were introduced. Hardware system consisted of ARM processing unit, light source unit, detection probe unit, spectral data acquisition unit, LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) touch screen display unit, power unit and the cooling unit. Linux operating system and quality parameters acquisition processing application were designed. This system has realized collecting spectral signal, storing, displaying and processing as integration with the weight of 3.5 kg. 40 pieces of beef were used in experiment to validate the stability and reliability. The results indicated that prediction model developed using PLSR method using SNV as pre-processing method had good performance, with the correlation coefficient of 0.90 and root mean square error of 1.56 for validation set for L*, 0.95 and 1.74 for a*，0.94 and 0.59 for b*, 0.88 and 0.13 for pH, 0.79 and 12.46 for tenderness, 0.89 and 0.91 for water content, respectively. The experimental result shows that this device can be a useful tool for detecting quality of meat.

The neural circuits of innate fear: detection, integration, action, and memorization

PubMed Central

Silva, Bianca A.; Gross, Cornelius T.

2016-01-01

How fear is represented in the brain has generated a lot of research attention, not only because fear increases the chances for survival when appropriately expressed but also because it can lead to anxiety and stress-related disorders when inadequately processed. In this review, we summarize recent progress in the understanding of the neural circuits processing innate fear in rodents. We propose that these circuits are contained within three main functional units in the brain: a detection unit, responsible for gathering sensory information signaling the presence of a threat; an integration unit, responsible for incorporating the various sensory information and recruiting downstream effectors; and an output unit, in charge of initiating appropriate bodily and behavioral responses to the threatful stimulus. In parallel, the experience of innate fear also instructs a learning process leading to the memorization of the fearful event. Interestingly, while the detection, integration, and output units processing acute fear responses to different threats tend to be harbored in distinct brain circuits, memory encoding of these threats seems to rely on a shared learning system. PMID:27634145

Low cost solar array project production process and equipment task. A Module Experimental Process System Development Unit (MEPSDU)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1981-01-01

Technical readiness for the production of photovoltaic modules using single crystal silicon dendritic web sheet material is demonstrated by: (1) selection, design and implementation of solar cell and photovoltaic module process sequence in a Module Experimental Process System Development Unit; (2) demonstration runs; (3) passing of acceptance and qualification tests; and (4) achievement of a cost effective module.

Potable water recovery for spacecraft application by electrolytic pretreatment/air evaporation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wells, G. W.

1975-01-01

A process for the recovery of potable water from urine using electrolytic pretreatment followed by distillation in a closed-cycle air evaporator has been developed and tested. Both the electrolytic pretreatment unit and the air evaporation unit are six-person, flight-concept prototype, automated units. Significantly extended wick lifetimes have been achieved in the air evaporation unit using electrolytically pretreated, as opposed to chemically pretreated, urine feed. Parametric test data are presented on product water quality, wick life, process power, maintenance requirements, and expendable requirements.

A GPU-Based Wide-Band Radio Spectrometer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chennamangalam, Jayanth; Scott, Simon; Jones, Glenn; Chen, Hong; Ford, John; Kepley, Amanda; Lorimer, D. R.; Nie, Jun; Prestage, Richard; Roshi, D. Anish; Wagner, Mark; Werthimer, Dan

2014-12-01

The graphics processing unit has become an integral part of astronomical instrumentation, enabling high-performance online data reduction and accelerated online signal processing. In this paper, we describe a wide-band reconfigurable spectrometer built using an off-the-shelf graphics processing unit card. This spectrometer, when configured as a polyphase filter bank, supports a dual-polarisation bandwidth of up to 1.1 GHz (or a single-polarisation bandwidth of up to 2.2 GHz) on the latest generation of graphics processing units. On the other hand, when configured as a direct fast Fourier transform, the spectrometer supports a dual-polarisation bandwidth of up to 1.4 GHz (or a single-polarisation bandwidth of up to 2.8 GHz).

Modelling and simulation of a robotic work cell

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sękala, A.; Gwiazda, A.; Kost, G.; Banaś, W.

2017-08-01

The subject of considerations presented in this work concerns the designing and simulation of a robotic work cell. The designing of robotic cells is the process of synergistic combining the components in the group, combining this groups into specific, larger work units or dividing the large work units into small ones. Combinations or divisions are carried out in the terms of the needs of realization the assumed objectives to be performed in these unit. The designing process bases on the integrated approach what lets to take into consideration all needed elements of this process. Each of the elements of a design process could be an independent design agent which could tend to obtain its objectives.

Quality Improvement Process in a Large Intensive Care Unit: Structure and Outcomes.

PubMed

Reddy, Anita J; Guzman, Jorge A

2016-11-01

Quality improvement in the health care setting is a complex process, and even more so in the critical care environment. The development of intensive care unit process measures and quality improvement strategies are associated with improved outcomes, but should be individualized to each medical center as structure and culture can differ from institution to institution. The purpose of this report is to describe the structure of quality improvement processes within a large medical intensive care unit while using examples of the study institution's successes and challenges in the areas of stat antibiotic administration, reduction in blood product waste, central line-associated bloodstream infections, and medication errors. © The Author(s) 2015.

Finite Element Optimization for Nondestructive Evaluation on a Graphics Processing Unit for Ground Vehicle Hull Inspection

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-08-22

4 cores, where the code may simultaneously run on the multiple cores or the graphics processing unit (or GPU – to be more specific on an NVIDIA ...allowed to get accurate crack shapes. DISCLAIMER Reference herein to any specific commercial company , product, process, or service by trade name

78 FR 14079 - Legal Processes

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-03-04

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Legal Processes ACTION: Proposed... former employees of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The rules for these legal... employee testimony and production of documents in legal proceedings, reports of unauthorized testimony...

In-Flight Operation of the Dawn Ion Propulsion System - The First Nine Months

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Garner, Charles E.; Brophy, John R.; Mikes, Steven C.; Raymond, Marc D.

2008-01-01

The Dawn mission, part of NASA's Discovery Program, has as its goal the scientific exploration of the two most massive main-belt asteroids, Vesta and Ceres. The Dawn spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on September 27, 2007 on a Delta-II 7925H-9.5 (Delta-II Heavy) rocket that placed the 1218 kg spacecraft into an Earth-escape trajectory. On-board the spacecraft is an ion propulsion system (IPS) which will provide most of the delta-V needed for heliocentric transfer to Vesta, orbit capture at Vesta, transfer to Vesta science orbits, departure and escape from Vesta, heliocentric transfer to Ceres, orbit capture at Ceres, and transfer to Ceres science orbits. The Dawn ion engine design is based on the design validated on NASA's Deep Space 1 mission. However, because of the very substantial (11 km/s) delta-V requirements for this mission Dawn requires two engines to complete its mission objectives. The power processor units (PPU), digital control and interface units (DCIU) slice boards and the xenon control assembly (XCA) are also based on the DS1 design. The DCIUs and thrust gimbal assemblies (TGA) were developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The spacecraft was provided by Orbital Sciences Corporation, Sterling, Virginia, and the mission is managed by and operated from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Dawn partnered with Germany, Italy and Los Alamos National Laboratory for the science instruments. The mission is led by the principal investigator, Dr. Christopher Russell, from the University of California, Los Angeles. The first 80 days after launch were dedicated to the initial checkout of the spacecraft prior to the initiation of long-term thrusting for the heliocentric transfer to Vesta. The IPS hardware, consisting of three ion thrusters and TGAs, two PPUs and DCIUs, xenon feed system, and spacecraft control software, was investigated extensively. Thrust measurements, roll torque measurements, pointing capabilities, control characteristics, and thermal behavior of the spacecraft and IPS were carefully evaluated. The Dawn IPS fully met all its initial checkout performance objectives. Deterministic thrusting for cruise began on December 17, 2007. Over the subsequent approximately 330 days the IPS will be operated virtually continuously at full power thrusting (approximately 91 mN) leading to a Mars flyby in February 2009. The encounter with Mars provides a gravity assist for a plane change and is the only source of post-launch delta-V apart from the IPS. Following the Mars gravity assist IPS will be operated for approximately one year at full power and for 1.3 years at throttled power levels leading to rendezvous with Vesta in August of 2011. Following nine months of orbital operations with IPS providing the propulsion needed for orbit capture, science orbit transfer and orbit maintenance and Vesta escape, Dawn will transit to Ceres with an expected arrival date of February 2015. As of June 16, 2008 the ion thrusters on Dawn have operated for close to 3,846 hours and have delivered nearly 1 km/s of delta-V to the spacecraft. Dawn IPS operation has been almost flawless during the initial checkout and six months of cruise. This paper provides an overview of Dawn's mission objectives, mission and system design, and the results of the post-launch Dawn IPS mission operations through June 2008

In-Flight Operation of the Dawn Ion Propulsion System Through Start of the Vesta Cruise Phase

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Garner, Charles E.; Rayman, Marc D.; Brophy, John R.

2009-01-01

The Dawn mission, part of NASA's Discovery Program, has as its goal the scientific exploration of the two most massive main-belt asteroids, Vesta and Ceres. The Dawn spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on September 27, 2007 on a Delta-II 7925H-9.5 (Delta-II Heavy) rocket that placed the 1218 kg spacecraft into an Earth-escape trajectory. On-board the spacecraft is an ion propulsion system (IPS) which will provide most of the delta V needed for heliocentric transfer to Vesta, orbit capture at Vesta, transfer to Vesta science orbits, departure and escape from Vesta, heliocentric transfer to Ceres, orbit capture at Ceres, and transfer to Ceres science orbits. The Dawn ion design is based on the design validated on NASA's Deep Space 1 (DS1) mission. However, because of the very substantial (11 km/s) delta V requirements for this mission Dawn requires two engines to complete its mission objectives. The power processor units (PPU), digital control and interface units (DCIU) slice boards and the xenon control assembly (XCA) are derivatives of the components used on DS1. The DCIUs and thrust gimbal assemblies (TGA) were developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The spacecraft was provided by Orbital Sciences Corporation, Sterling, Virginia, and the mission is managed by and operated from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Dawn partnered with Germany, Italy and Los Alamos National Laboratory for the science instruments. The mission is led by the principal investigator, Dr. Christopher Russell, from the University of California, Los Angeles. The first 80 days after launch were dedicated to the initial checkout of the spacecraft followed by cruise to Mars. Cruise thrusting leading to a Mars gravity assist began on December 17, 2007 and was successfully concluded as planned on October 31, 2008. During this time period the Dawn IPS was operated mostly at full power for approximately 6500 hours, consumed 71.7 kg of xenon and delivered approximately 1.8 km/s of delta V to the spacecraft. The thrusting to Mars was followed by a coasting period of approximately 3.5 months that included a Mars flyby in February of 2009. The Mars flyby provided a gravity assist (MGA) for a plane change and approximately 1 km/s of heliocentric energy increase and is the only part of the mission following launch in which a needed velocity change is not accomplished by the IPS. During the coast period IPS was operated for a trajectory correction maneuver and for engineering tests but was not operated for primary propulsion. Closest approach to Mars occurred as planned on February 17, 2009 and was followed by another coasting period of just under 4 months in duration. During this last coasting phase IPS was operated only for routine maintenance activities and for system engineering tests. Deterministic thrusting for heliocentric transfer to Vesta resumed on June 8, 2009. IPS will be operated for over two years at throttled power levels leading to arrival at Vesta in September of 2011 and arrival at Ceres in February 2015. This paper provides an overview of Dawn's mission objectives and the results of Dawn IPS mission operations through the start of deterministic thrusting to Vesta.

The Use of the Nursing Process in Spain as Compared to the United States and Canada.

PubMed

Huitzi-Egilegor, Joseba Xabier; Elorza-Puyadena, Maria Isabel; Asurabarrena-Iraola, Carmen

2017-05-18

To analyze the development of the nursing method process in Spain, and compare it with the development in the United States and Canada. This is a narrative review. The teaching of the nursing process in nursing schools started in Spain as from 1977 and that it started being used in professional practice in the 1990's. The development, the difficulties, the nursing models used and its application form are discussed. The development of the nursing process in the United States and Canada started to happen in Spain about 15-20 years later and, today, is a reality. Cross-sectional studies are needed to determine the changes in the development of the nursing process in Spain. © 2017 NANDA International, Inc.

7 CFR 1208.29 - United States.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 10 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false United States. 1208.29 Section 1208.29 Agriculture... § 1208.29 United States. United States means collectively the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the territories and possessions of the United States. National Processed...

7 CFR 1208.29 - United States.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 10 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false United States. 1208.29 Section 1208.29 Agriculture... § 1208.29 United States. United States means collectively the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the territories and possessions of the United States. National Processed...

Fundamentals of Refrigeration.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sutliff, Ronald D.; And Others

This self-study course is designed to familiarize Marine enlisted personnel with the principles of the refrigeration process. The course contains five study units. Each study unit begins with a general objective, which is a statement of what the student should learn from the unit. The study units are divided into numbered work units, each…

Intermediate SCDC Spanish Curricula Units. Science/Health, Unit 1, Kits 1-4, Teacher's Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spanish Curricula Development Center, Miami Beach, FL.

Unified by the theme "our community", this unit, part of nine basic instructional units for intermediate level, reflects the observations of Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans in various regions of the United States. Comprised of Kits 1-4, the unit extends the following basic and interpreted science processes: observing, communicating,…

Flat-plate solar array project: Experimental process system development unit for producing semiconductor-grade silicon using the silane-to-silicon process

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1983-01-01

The process technology for the manufacture of semiconductor-grade silicon in a large commercial plant by 1986, at a price less than $14 per kilogram of silicon based on 1975 dollars is discussed. The engineering design, installation, checkout, and operation of an Experimental Process System Development unit was discussed. Quality control of scaling-up the process and an economic analysis of product and production costs are discussed.

Process for removing an organic compound from water

DOEpatents

Baker, Richard W.; Kaschemekat, Jurgen; Wijmans, Johannes G.; Kamaruddin, Henky D.

1993-12-28

A process for removing organic compounds from water is disclosed. The process involves gas stripping followed by membrane separation treatment of the stripping gas. The stripping step can be carried out using one or multiple gas strippers and using air or any other gas as stripping gas. The membrane separation step can be carried out using a single-stage membrane unit or a multistage unit. Apparatus for carrying out the process is also disclosed. The process is particularly suited for treatment of contaminated groundwater or industrial wastewater.

Cradle-to-Gate Life-Cycle Inventory and Impact Assessment of Wood Fuel Pellet Manufacturing from Hardwood Flooring Residues in the Southeastern United States

Treesearch

Daniel Reed; Richard Bergman; Jae-Woo Kim; Adam Tayler; David Harper; David Jones; Chris Knowles; Maureen E. Puettmann

2012-01-01

In this article, we present cradle-to-gate life-cycle inventory (LCI) data for wood fuel pellets manufactured in the Southeast United States. We surveyed commercial pellet manufacturers in 2010, collecting annual production data for 2009. Weighted-average inputs to, and emissions from, the pelletization process were determined. The pellet making unit process was...

The role of pre-field operations at four forest inventory units: We can see the trees, not just the forest

Treesearch

Sara A. Goeking; Greg C. Liknes

2009-01-01

The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program attempts to inventory all forested lands throughout the United States. Each of the four FIA units has developed a process to minimize inventory costs by refraining from visiting those plots in the national inventory grid that are undoubtedly nonforest. We refer to this process as pre-field operations. Until recently, the...

Assessment of mammographic film processor performance in a hospital and mobile screening unit.

PubMed

Murray, J G; Dowsett, D J; Laird, O; Ennis, J T

1992-12-01

In contrast to the majority of mammographic breast screening programmes, film processing at this centre occurs on site in both hospital and mobile trailer units. Initial (1989) quality control (QC) sensitometric tests revealed a large variation in film processor performance in the mobile unit. The clinical significance of these variations was assessed and acceptance limits for processor performance determined. Abnormal mammograms were used as reference material and copied using high definition 35 mm film over a range of exposure settings. The copies were than matched with QC film density variation from the mobile unit. All films were subsequently ranked for spatial and contrast resolution. Optimal values for processing time of 2 min (equivalent to film transit time 3 min and developer time 46 s) and temperature of 36 degrees C were obtained. The widespread anomaly of reporting film transit time as processing time is highlighted. Use of mammogram copies as a means of measuring the influence of film processor variation is advocated. Careful monitoring of the mobile unit film processor performance has produced stable quality comparable with the hospital based unit. The advantages of on site film processing are outlined. The addition of a sensitometric step wedge to all mammography film stock as a means of assessing image quality is recommended.

Cost calculator methods for estimating casework time in child welfare services: A promising approach for use in implementation of evidence-based practices and other service innovations.

PubMed

Holmes, Lisa; Landsverk, John; Ward, Harriet; Rolls-Reutz, Jennifer; Saldana, Lisa; Wulczyn, Fred; Chamberlain, Patricia

2014-04-01

Estimating costs in child welfare services is critical as new service models are incorporated into routine practice. This paper describes a unit costing estimation system developed in England (cost calculator) together with a pilot test of its utility in the United States where unit costs are routinely available for health services but not for child welfare services. The cost calculator approach uses a unified conceptual model that focuses on eight core child welfare processes. Comparison of these core processes in England and in four counties in the United States suggests that the underlying child welfare processes generated from England were perceived as very similar by child welfare staff in California county systems with some exceptions in the review and legal processes. Overall, the adaptation of the cost calculator for use in the United States child welfare systems appears promising. The paper also compares the cost calculator approach to the workload approach widely used in the United States and concludes that there are distinct differences between the two approaches with some possible advantages to the use of the cost calculator approach, especially in the use of this method for estimating child welfare costs in relation to the incorporation of evidence-based interventions into routine practice.

Design and implementation of the monitoring system for underground coal fires in Xinjiang region, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li-bo, Dang; Jia-chun, Wu; Yue-xing, Liu; Yuan, Chang; Bin, Peng

2017-04-01

Underground coal fire (UCF) is serious in Xinjiang region of China. In order to deal with this problem efficiently, a UCF monitoring System, which is based on the use of wireless communication technology and remote sensing images, was designed and implemented by Xinjiang Coal Fire Fighting Bureau. This system consists of three parts, i.e., the data collecting unit, the data processing unit and the data output unit. For the data collecting unit, temperature sensors and gas sensors were put together on the sites with depth of 1.5 meter from the surface of coal fire zone. Information on these sites' temperature and gas was transferred immediately to the data processing unit. The processing unit was developed by coding based on GIS software. Generally, the processed datum were saved in the computer by table format, which can be displayed on the screen as the curve. Remote sensing image for each coal fire was saved in this system as the background for each monitoring site. From the monitoring data, the changes of the coal fires were displayed directly. And it provides a solid basis for analyzing the status of coal combustion of coal fire, the gas emission and possible dominant direction of coal fire propagation, which is helpful for making-decision of coal fire extinction.

40 CFR 63.101 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... chemical that is produced coincidentally during the production of another chemical. Chemical manufacturing... manufacture an intended product. A chemical manufacturing process unit consists of more than one unit... ethylene process does not include the manufacture of SOCMI chemicals such as the production of butadiene...

40 CFR 424.35 - Standards of performance for new sources.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

...— Metric units (kg/kkg processed) TSS 0.271 0.136 Chromium total .0054 .0027 Manganese total 0.054 .027 pH (1) (1) English units (lb/ton processed) TSS .542 .271 Chromium total .011 .0054 Manganese total .108...

40 CFR 424.35 - Standards of performance for new sources.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

...— Metric units (kg/kkg processed) TSS 0.271 0.136 Chromium total .0054 .0027 Manganese total 0.054 .027 pH (1) (1) English units (lb/ton processed) TSS .542 .271 Chromium total .011 .0054 Manganese total .108...

40 CFR 424.35 - Standards of performance for new sources.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

...— Metric units (kg/kkg processed) TSS 0.271 0.136 Chromium total .0054 .0027 Manganese total 0.054 .027 pH (1) (1) English units (lb/ton processed) TSS .542 .271 Chromium total .011 .0054 Manganese total .108...

39 CFR 3050.24 - Documentation supporting estimates of costs avoided by worksharing and other mail characteristics...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Computer Reader finalization costs, cost per image, and Remote Bar Code Sorter leakage; (8) Percentage of... processing units costs for Carrier Route, High Density, and Saturation mail; (j) Mail processing unit costs...

39 CFR 3050.24 - Documentation supporting estimates of costs avoided by worksharing and other mail characteristics...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... Computer Reader finalization costs, cost per image, and Remote Bar Code Sorter leakage; (8) Percentage of... processing units costs for Carrier Route, High Density, and Saturation mail; (j) Mail processing unit costs...

39 CFR 3050.24 - Documentation supporting estimates of costs avoided by worksharing and other mail characteristics...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... Computer Reader finalization costs, cost per image, and Remote Bar Code Sorter leakage; (8) Percentage of... processing units costs for Carrier Route, High Density, and Saturation mail; (j) Mail processing unit costs...

39 CFR 3050.24 - Documentation supporting estimates of costs avoided by worksharing and other mail characteristics...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... Computer Reader finalization costs, cost per image, and Remote Bar Code Sorter leakage; (8) Percentage of... processing units costs for Carrier Route, High Density, and Saturation mail; (j) Mail processing unit costs...

39 CFR 3050.24 - Documentation supporting estimates of costs avoided by worksharing and other mail characteristics...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... Computer Reader finalization costs, cost per image, and Remote Bar Code Sorter leakage; (8) Percentage of... processing units costs for Carrier Route, High Density, and Saturation mail; (j) Mail processing unit costs...

40 CFR 424.35 - Standards of performance for new sources.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

...— Metric units (kg/kkg processed) TSS 0.271 0.136 Chromium total .0054 .0027 Manganese total 0.054 .027 pH (1) (1) English units (lb/ton processed) TSS .542 .271 Chromium total .011 .0054 Manganese total .108...

40 CFR 424.35 - Standards of performance for new sources.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

...— Metric units (kg/kkg processed) TSS 0.271 0.136 Chromium total .0054 .0027 Manganese total 0.054 .027 pH (1) (1) English units (lb/ton processed) TSS .542 .271 Chromium total .011 .0054 Manganese total .108...

Impact of hospital care on incidence of bloodstream infection: the evaluation of processes and indicators in infection control study.

PubMed Central

Kritchevsky, S. B.; Braun, B. I.; Wong, E. S.; Solomon, S. L.; Steele, L.; Richards, C.; Simmons, B. P.

2001-01-01

The Evaluation of Processes and Indicators in Infection Control (EPIC) study assesses the relationship between hospital care and rates of central venous catheter-associated primary bacteremia in 54 intensive-care units (ICUs) in the United States and 14 other countries. Using ICU rather than the patient as the primary unit of statistical analysis permits evaluation of factors that vary at the ICU level. The design of EPIC can serve as a template for studies investigating the relationship between process and event rates across health-care institutions. PMID:11294704

An Examination of the USAF (Q,R) Policies for Managing Depot-Base Inventories.

DTIC Science & Technology

1976-10-15

x OC. ½ EOQ J = [ ~- ~ ~~~ ___.1~ (A3) 0C~ = base j’s order processing cost = $5; tIC = unit acquisition cost of the given item...l - —— (C2) Uc x (11C0 + (llC~ - HCD) x j~~l (n~MDR~ /MDn 0)) where OC9 = depot order processing cost = $270.16; 0C~ = base order ... processing cost LIC unit acquisition cost of item; MCD = cost to hold caeh unit of the given item/yearat the depot , expressed as a fraction of its un i

Recycle Requirements for NASA's 30 cm Xenon Ion Thruster

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pinero, Luis R.; Rawlin, Vincent K.

1994-01-01

Electrical breakdowns have been observed during ion thruster operation. These breakdowns, or arcs, can be caused by several conditions. In flight systems, the power processing unit must be designed to handle these faults autonomously. This has a strong impact on power processor requirements and must be understood fully for the power processing unit being designed for the NASA Solar Electric Propulsion Technology Application Readiness program. In this study, fault conditions were investigated using a NASA 30 cm ion thruster and a power console. Power processing unit output specifications were defined based on the breakdown phenomena identified and characterized.

Evaluation of Selected Chemical Processes for Production of Low-cost Silicon, Phase 3

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blocher, J. M., Jr.; Browning, M. F.

1979-01-01

The construction of the 50 MT Si/year experimental process system development unit was deferred until FY 1980, and the fluidized bed, zinc vaporizer, by-product condenser, and electrolytic cell were combined with auxiliary units, capable of supporting 8-hour batchwise operation, to form the process development unit (PDU), which is scheduled to be in operation by October 1, 1979. The design of the PDU and objectives of its operation are discussed. Experimental program support activities described relate to: (1) a wetted-wall condensor; (2) fluidized-bed modeling; (3) zinc chloride electrolysis; and (4) zinc vaporizer.

Microcomponent chemical process sheet architecture

DOEpatents

Wegeng, Robert S.; Drost, M. Kevin; Call, Charles J.; Birmingham, Joseph G.; McDonald, Carolyn Evans; Kurath, Dean E.; Friedrich, Michele

1998-01-01

The invention is a microcomponent sheet architecture wherein macroscale unit processes are performed by microscale components. The sheet architecture may be a single laminate with a plurality of separate microcomponent sections or the sheet architecture may be a plurality of laminates with one or more microcomponent sections on each laminate. Each microcomponent or plurality of like microcomponents perform at least one chemical process unit operation. A first laminate having a plurality of like first microcomponents is combined with at least a second laminate having a plurality of like second microcomponents thereby combining at least two unit operations to achieve a system operation.

Microcomponent chemical process sheet architecture

DOEpatents

Wegeng, R.S.; Drost, M.K.; Call, C.J.; Birmingham, J.G.; McDonald, C.E.; Kurath, D.E.; Friedrich, M.

1998-09-22

The invention is a microcomponent sheet architecture wherein macroscale unit processes are performed by microscale components. The sheet architecture may be a single laminate with a plurality of separate microcomponent sections or the sheet architecture may be a plurality of laminates with one or more microcomponent sections on each laminate. Each microcomponent or plurality of like microcomponents perform at least one chemical process unit operation. A first laminate having a plurality of like first microcomponents is combined with at least a second laminate having a plurality of like second microcomponents thereby combining at least two unit operations to achieve a system operation. 26 figs.

Application of graphics processing units to search pipelines for gravitational waves from coalescing binaries of compact objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chung, Shin Kee; Wen, Linqing; Blair, David; Cannon, Kipp; Datta, Amitava

2010-07-01

We report a novel application of a graphics processing unit (GPU) for the purpose of accelerating the search pipelines for gravitational waves from coalescing binaries of compact objects. A speed-up of 16-fold in total has been achieved with an NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultra GPU card compared with one core of a 2.5 GHz Intel Q9300 central processing unit (CPU). We show that substantial improvements are possible and discuss the reduction in CPU count required for the detection of inspiral sources afforded by the use of GPUs.

Temporal Processing in the Visual Cortex of the Awake and Anesthetized Rat.

PubMed

Aasebø, Ida E J; Lepperød, Mikkel E; Stavrinou, Maria; Nøkkevangen, Sandra; Einevoll, Gaute; Hafting, Torkel; Fyhn, Marianne

2017-01-01

The activity pattern and temporal dynamics within and between neuron ensembles are essential features of information processing and believed to be profoundly affected by anesthesia. Much of our general understanding of sensory information processing, including computational models aimed at mathematically simulating sensory information processing, rely on parameters derived from recordings conducted on animals under anesthesia. Due to the high variety of neuronal subtypes in the brain, population-based estimates of the impact of anesthesia may conceal unit- or ensemble-specific effects of the transition between states. Using chronically implanted tetrodes into primary visual cortex (V1) of rats, we conducted extracellular recordings of single units and followed the same cell ensembles in the awake and anesthetized states. We found that the transition from wakefulness to anesthesia involves unpredictable changes in temporal response characteristics. The latency of single-unit responses to visual stimulation was delayed in anesthesia, with large individual variations between units. Pair-wise correlations between units increased under anesthesia, indicating more synchronized activity. Further, the units within an ensemble show reproducible temporal activity patterns in response to visual stimuli that is changed between states, suggesting state-dependent sequences of activity. The current dataset, with recordings from the same neural ensembles across states, is well suited for validating and testing computational network models. This can lead to testable predictions, bring a deeper understanding of the experimental findings and improve models of neural information processing. Here, we exemplify such a workflow using a Brunel network model.

Temporal Processing in the Visual Cortex of the Awake and Anesthetized Rat

PubMed Central

Aasebø, Ida E. J.; Stavrinou, Maria; Nøkkevangen, Sandra; Einevoll, Gaute

2017-01-01

Abstract The activity pattern and temporal dynamics within and between neuron ensembles are essential features of information processing and believed to be profoundly affected by anesthesia. Much of our general understanding of sensory information processing, including computational models aimed at mathematically simulating sensory information processing, rely on parameters derived from recordings conducted on animals under anesthesia. Due to the high variety of neuronal subtypes in the brain, population-based estimates of the impact of anesthesia may conceal unit- or ensemble-specific effects of the transition between states. Using chronically implanted tetrodes into primary visual cortex (V1) of rats, we conducted extracellular recordings of single units and followed the same cell ensembles in the awake and anesthetized states. We found that the transition from wakefulness to anesthesia involves unpredictable changes in temporal response characteristics. The latency of single-unit responses to visual stimulation was delayed in anesthesia, with large individual variations between units. Pair-wise correlations between units increased under anesthesia, indicating more synchronized activity. Further, the units within an ensemble show reproducible temporal activity patterns in response to visual stimuli that is changed between states, suggesting state-dependent sequences of activity. The current dataset, with recordings from the same neural ensembles across states, is well suited for validating and testing computational network models. This can lead to testable predictions, bring a deeper understanding of the experimental findings and improve models of neural information processing. Here, we exemplify such a workflow using a Brunel network model. PMID:28791331

SAR processing on the MPP

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Batcher, K. E.; Eddey, E. E.; Faiss, R. O.; Gilmore, P. A.

1981-01-01

The processing of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) signals using the massively parallel processor (MPP) is discussed. The fast Fourier transform convolution procedures employed in the algorithms are described. The MPP architecture comprises an array unit (ARU) which processes arrays of data; an array control unit which controls the operation of the ARU and performs scalar arithmetic; a program and data management unit which controls the flow of data; and a unique staging memory (SM) which buffers and permutes data. The ARU contains a 128 by 128 array of bit-serial processing elements (PE). Two-by-four surarrays of PE's are packaged in a custom VLSI HCMOS chip. The staging memory is a large multidimensional-access memory which buffers and permutes data flowing with the system. Efficient SAR processing is achieved via ARU communication paths and SM data manipulation. Real time processing capability can be realized via a multiple ARU, multiple SM configuration.

ISO 9001 in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

PubMed

Vitner, Gad; Nadir, Erez; Feldman, Michael; Yurman, Shmuel

2011-01-01

The aim of this paper is to present the process for approving and certifying a neonatal intensive care unit to ISO 9001 standards. The process started with the department head's decision to improve services quality before deciding to achieve ISO 9001 certification. Department processes were mapped and quality management mechanisms were developed. Process control and performance measurements were defined and implemented to monitor the daily work. A service satisfaction review was conducted to get feedback from families. In total, 28 processes and related work instructions were defined. Process yields showed service improvements. Family satisfaction improved. The paper is based on preparing only one neonatal intensive care unit to the ISO 9001 standard. The case study should act as an incentive for hospital managers aiming to improve service quality based on the ISO 9001 standard. ISO 9001 is becoming a recommended tool to improve clinical service quality.

An Examination of Individual Level Factors in Stress and Coping Processes: Perspectives of Chinese International Students in the United States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yan, Kun; Berliner, David C.

2011-01-01

No empirical research has focused solely upon understanding the stress and coping processes of Chinese international students in the United States. This qualitative inquiry examines the individual-level variables that affect the stress-coping process of Chinese international students and how they conceptualize and adapt to their stress at an…

40 CFR 63.7491 - Are any boilers or process heaters not subject to this subpart?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... generating unit (EGU) covered by subpart UUUUU of this part. (b) A recovery boiler or furnace covered by... vessels. This does not include units that provide heat or steam to a process at a research and development... the average annual heat input during any 3 consecutive calendar years to the boiler or process heater...

40 CFR 63.7491 - Are any boilers or process heaters not subject to this subpart?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... generating unit (EGU) covered by subpart UUUUU of this part. (b) A recovery boiler or furnace covered by... vessels. This does not include units that provide heat or steam to a process at a research and development... the average annual heat input during any 3 consecutive calendar years to the boiler or process heater...

Effect of medium on friction and wear properties of compacted graphite cast iron processed by biomimetic coupling laser remelting process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Qing-chun; Zhou, Hong; Wang, Cheng-tao; Zhang, Wei; Lin, Peng-yu; Sun, Na; Ren, Luquan

2009-04-01

Stimulated by the cuticles of soil animals, an attempt to improve the wear resistance of compact graphite cast iron (CGI) with biomimetic units on the surface was made by using a biomimetic coupled laser remelting process in air and various thicknesses water film, respectively. The microstructures of biomimetic units were examined by scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffraction was used to describe the microstructure and identify the phases in the melted zone. Microhardness was measured and the wear behaviors of biomimetic specimens as functions of different mediums as well as various water film thicknesses were investigated under dry sliding condition, respectively. The results indicated that the microstructure zones in the biomimetic specimens processed with water film are refined compared with that processed in air and had better wear resistance increased by 60%, the microhardness of biomimetic units has been improved significantly. The application of water film provided finer microstructures and much more regular grain shape in biomimetic units, which played a key role in improving the friction properties and wear resistance of CGI.

Using Systems Theory to Examine Patient and Nurse Structures, Processes, and Outcomes in Centralized and Decentralized Units.

PubMed

Real, Kevin; Fay, Lindsey; Isaacs, Kathy; Carll-White, Allison; Schadler, Aric

2018-01-01

This study utilizes systems theory to understand how changes to physical design structures impact communication processes and patient and staff design-related outcomes. Many scholars and researchers have noted the importance of communication and teamwork for patient care quality. Few studies have examined changes to nursing station design within a systems theory framework. This study employed a multimethod, before-and-after, quasi-experimental research design. Nurses completed surveys in centralized units and later in decentralized units ( N = 26 pre , N = 51 post ). Patients completed surveys ( N = 62 pre ) in centralized units and later in decentralized units ( N = 49 post ). Surveys included quantitative measures and qualitative open-ended responses. Patients preferred the decentralized units because of larger single-occupancy rooms, greater privacy/confidentiality, and overall satisfaction with design. Nurses had a more complex response. Nurses approved the patient rooms, unit environment, and noise levels in decentralized units. However, they reported reduced access to support spaces, lower levels of team/mentoring communication, and less satisfaction with design than in centralized units. Qualitative findings supported these results. Nurses were more positive about centralized units and patients were more positive toward decentralized units. The results of this study suggest a need to understand how system components operate in concert. A major contribution of this study is the inclusion of patient satisfaction with design, an important yet overlooked fact in patient satisfaction. Healthcare design researchers and practitioners may consider how changing system interdependencies can lead to unexpected changes to communication processes and system outcomes in complex systems.

ARS labs update to California Cotton Ginners and Growers

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

There are four USDA-ARS labs involved in cotton harvesting, processing & fiber quality research; The Southwestern Cotton Ginning Research Laboratory (Mesilla Park, NM); The Cotton Production and Processing Unit (Lubbock, TX); The Cotton Ginning Research Unit (Stoneville, MS); and The Cotton Structur...

40 CFR 723.250 - Polymers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... functional group. Fluorotelomers means the products of telomerization, which is the reaction of a telogen... relevant polymer-forming reaction used for the particular process. Monomer Unit means the reacted form of... monomer units but which, under the relevant reaction conditions used for the particular process, cannot...

7 CFR 60.128 - United States country of origin.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false United States country of origin. 60.128 Section 60.128... FOR FISH AND SHELLFISH General Provisions Definitions § 60.128 United States country of origin. United...: From fish or shellfish hatched, raised, harvested, and processed in the United States, and that has not...

7 CFR 60.128 - United States country of origin.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 3 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false United States country of origin. 60.128 Section 60.128... FOR FISH AND SHELLFISH General Provisions Definitions § 60.128 United States country of origin. United...: From fish or shellfish hatched, raised, harvested, and processed in the United States, and that has not...

76 FR 80451 - Commercial and Industrial Solid Waste Incineration Units: Reconsideration and Proposed Amendments...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-12-23

... wastes ERUs were designed to burn. Energy Recovery Units (i.e., units that would be boilers and process... and 241 Commercial and Industrial Solid Waste Incineration Units: Reconsideration and Proposed... 2060-AR15 and 2050-AG44 Commercial and Industrial Solid Waste Incineration Units: Reconsideration and...

40 CFR 63.1281 - Control equipment requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... dehydration unit baseline operations (as defined in § 63.1271). Records of glycol dehydration unit baseline... the Administrator's satisfaction, the conditions for which glycol dehydration unit baseline operations... emission reduction of 95.0 percent for the glycol dehydration unit process vent. Only modifications in...

40 CFR 63.1281 - Control equipment requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... dehydration unit baseline operations (as defined in § 63.1271). Records of glycol dehydration unit baseline... the Administrator's satisfaction, the conditions for which glycol dehydration unit baseline operations... emission reduction of 95.0 percent for the glycol dehydration unit process vent. Only modifications in...

Accreditation of specialized asthma units for adults in Spain: an applicable experience for the management of difficult-to-control asthma

PubMed Central

Cisneros, Carolina; Díaz-Campos, Rocío Magdalena; Marina, Núria; Melero, Carlos; Padilla, Alicia; Pascual, Silvia; Pinedo, Celia; Trisán, Andrea

2017-01-01

This paper, developed by consensus of staff physicians of accredited asthma units for the management of severe asthma, presents information on the process and requirements for already-existing asthma units to achieve official accreditation by the Spanish Society of Pneumology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR). Three levels of specialized asthma care have been established based on available resources, which include specialized units for highly complex asthma, specialized asthma units, and basic asthma units. Regardless of the level of accreditation obtained, the distinction of “excellence” could be granted when more requirements in the areas of provision of care, technical and human resources, training in asthma, and teaching and research activities were met at each level. The Spanish experience in the process of accreditation of specialized asthma units, particularly for the care of patients with difficult-to-control asthma, may be applicable to other health care settings. PMID:28533690

Units of Distinction: Creating a Blueprint for Recognition of High-Performing Medical-Surgical Nursing Units.

PubMed

Jeffery, Alvin D; Mosier, Sammie; Baker, Allison; Korwek, Kimberly; Borum, Cindy; Englebright, Jane

2018-02-01

Hospital medical-surgical (M/S) nursing units are responsible for up to 28 million encounters annually, yet receive little attention from professional organizations and national initiatives targeted to improve quality and performance. We sought to develop a framework recognizing high-performing units within our large hospital system. This was a retrospective data analysis of M/S units throughout a 168-hospital system. Measures represented patient experience, employee engagement, staff scheduling, nursing-sensitive patient outcomes, professional practices, and clinical process measures. Four hundred ninety units from 129 hospitals contributed information to test the framework. A manual scoring system identified the top 5% and recognized them as a "Unit of Distinction." Secondary analyses with machine learning provided validation of the proposed framework. Similar to external recognition programs, this framework and process provide a holistic evaluation useful for meaningful recognition and lay the groundwork for benchmarking in improvement efforts.

A data distributed parallel algorithm for ray-traced volume rendering

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ma, Kwan-Liu; Painter, James S.; Hansen, Charles D.; Krogh, Michael F.

1993-01-01

This paper presents a divide-and-conquer ray-traced volume rendering algorithm and a parallel image compositing method, along with their implementation and performance on the Connection Machine CM-5, and networked workstations. This algorithm distributes both the data and the computations to individual processing units to achieve fast, high-quality rendering of high-resolution data. The volume data, once distributed, is left intact. The processing nodes perform local ray tracing of their subvolume concurrently. No communication between processing units is needed during this locally ray-tracing process. A subimage is generated by each processing unit and the final image is obtained by compositing subimages in the proper order, which can be determined a priori. Test results on both the CM-5 and a group of networked workstations demonstrate the practicality of our rendering algorithm and compositing method.

Description of a dual fail-operational redundant strapdown inertial measurement unit for integrated avionics systems research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bryant, W. H.; Morrell, F. R.

1981-01-01

Attention is given to a redundant strapdown inertial measurement unit for integrated avionics. The system consists of four two-degree-of-freedom turned rotor gyros and four two-degree-of-freedom accelerometers in a skewed and separable semi-octahedral array. The unit is coupled through instrument electronics to two flight computers which compensate sensor errors. The flight computers are interfaced to the microprocessors and process failure detection, isolation, redundancy management and flight control/navigation algorithms. The unit provides dual fail-operational performance and has data processing frequencies consistent with integrated avionics concepts presently planned.

The process of implementation of emergency care units in Brazil.

PubMed

O'Dwyer, Gisele; Konder, Mariana Teixeira; Reciputti, Luciano Pereira; Lopes, Mônica Guimarães Macau; Agostinho, Danielle Fernandes; Alves, Gabriel Farias

2017-12-11

To analyze the process of implementation of emergency care units in Brazil. We have carried out a documentary analysis, with interviews with twenty-four state urgency coordinators and a panel of experts. We have analyzed issues related to policy background and trajectory, players involved in the implementation, expansion process, advances, limits, and implementation difficulties, and state coordination capacity. We have used the theoretical framework of the analysis of the strategic conduct of the Giddens theory of structuration. Emergency care units have been implemented after 2007, initially in the Southeast region, and 446 emergency care units were present in all Brazilian regions in 2016. Currently, 620 emergency care units are under construction, which indicates expectation of expansion. Federal funding was a strong driver for the implementation. The states have planned their emergency care units, but the existence of direct negotiation between municipalities and the Union has contributed with the significant number of emergency care units that have been built but that do not work. In relation to the urgency network, there is tension with the hospital because of the lack of beds in the country, which generates hospitalizations in the emergency care unit. The management of emergency care units is predominantly municipal, and most of the emergency care units are located outside the capitals and classified as Size III. The main challenges identified were: under-funding and difficulty in recruiting physicians. The emergency care unit has the merit of having technological resources and being architecturally differentiated, but it will only succeed within an urgency network. Federal induction has generated contradictory responses, since not all states consider the emergency care unit a priority. The strengthening of the state management has been identified as a challenge for the implementation of the urgency network.

The process of implementation of emergency care units in Brazil

PubMed Central

O'Dwyer, Gisele; Konder, Mariana Teixeira; Reciputti, Luciano Pereira; Lopes, Mônica Guimarães Macau; Agostinho, Danielle Fernandes; Alves, Gabriel Farias

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To analyze the process of implementation of emergency care units in Brazil. METHODS We have carried out a documentary analysis, with interviews with twenty-four state urgency coordinators and a panel of experts. We have analyzed issues related to policy background and trajectory, players involved in the implementation, expansion process, advances, limits, and implementation difficulties, and state coordination capacity. We have used the theoretical framework of the analysis of the strategic conduct of the Giddens theory of structuration. RESULTS Emergency care units have been implemented after 2007, initially in the Southeast region, and 446 emergency care units were present in all Brazilian regions in 2016. Currently, 620 emergency care units are under construction, which indicates expectation of expansion. Federal funding was a strong driver for the implementation. The states have planned their emergency care units, but the existence of direct negotiation between municipalities and the Union has contributed with the significant number of emergency care units that have been built but that do not work. In relation to the urgency network, there is tension with the hospital because of the lack of beds in the country, which generates hospitalizations in the emergency care unit. The management of emergency care units is predominantly municipal, and most of the emergency care units are located outside the capitals and classified as Size III. The main challenges identified were: under-funding and difficulty in recruiting physicians. CONCLUSIONS The emergency care unit has the merit of having technological resources and being architecturally differentiated, but it will only succeed within an urgency network. Federal induction has generated contradictory responses, since not all states consider the emergency care unit a priority. The strengthening of the state management has been identified as a challenge for the implementation of the urgency network. PMID:29236876

The aging self in a cultural context: the relation of conceptions of aging to identity processes and self-esteem in the United States and the Netherlands.

PubMed

Westerhof, Gerben J; Whitbourne, Susan Krauss; Freeman, Gillian P

2012-01-01

To study the aging self, that is, conceptions of one's own aging process, in relation to identity processes and self-esteem in the United States and the Netherlands. As the liberal American system has a stronger emphasis on individual responsibility and youthfulness than the social-democratic Dutch system, we expect that youthful and positive perceptions of one's own aging process are more important in the United States than in the Netherlands. Three hundred and nineteen American and 235 Dutch persons between 40 and 85 years participated in the study. A single question on age identity and the Personal Experience of Aging Scale measured aspects of the aging self. The Identity and Experiences Scale measured identity processes and Rosenberg's scale measured self-esteem. A youthful age identity and more positive personal experiences of aging were related to identity processes and self-esteem. These conceptions of one's own aging process also mediate the relation between identity processes and self-esteem. This mediating effect is stronger in the United States than in the Netherlands. As expected, the self-enhancing function of youthful and positive aging perceptions is stronger in the liberal American system than in the social-democratic Dutch welfare system. The aging self should therefore be studied in its cultural context.

Sono-leather technology with ultrasound: a boon for unit operations in leather processing - review of our research work at Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI), India.

PubMed

Sivakumar, Venkatasubramanian; Swaminathan, Gopalaraman; Rao, Paruchuri Gangadhar; Ramasami, Thirumalachari

2009-01-01

Ultrasound is a sound wave with a frequency above the human audible range of 16 Hz to 16 kHz. In recent years, numerous unit operations involving physical as well as chemical processes are reported to have been enhanced by ultrasonic irradiation. There have been benefits such as improvement in process efficiency, process time reduction, performing the processes under milder conditions and avoiding the use of some toxic chemicals to achieve cleaner processing. These could be a better way of augmentation for the processes as an advanced technique. The important point here is that ultrasonic irradiation is physical method activation rather than using chemical entities. Detailed studies have been made in the unit operations related to leather such as diffusion rate enhancement through porous leather matrix, cleaning, degreasing, tanning, dyeing, fatliquoring, oil-water emulsification process and solid-liquid tannin extraction from vegetable tanning materials as well as in precipitation reaction in wastewater treatment. The fundamental mechanism involved in these processes is ultrasonic cavitation in liquid media. In addition to this there also exist some process specific mechanisms for the enhancement of the processes. For instance, possible real-time reversible pore-size changes during ultrasound propagation through skin/leather matrix could be a reason for diffusion rate enhancement in leather processing as reported for the first time. Exhaustive scientific research work has been carried out in this area by our group working in Chemical Engineering Division of CLRI and most of these benefits have been proven with publications in valued peer-reviewed international journals. The overall results indicate that about 2-5-fold increase in the process efficiency due to ultrasound under the given process conditions for various unit operations with additional benefits. Scale-up studies are underway for converting these concepts in to a real viable larger scale operation. In the present paper, summary of our research findings from employing this technique in various unit operations such as cleaning, diffusion, emulsification, particle-size reduction, solid-liquid leaching (tannin and natural dye extraction) as well as precipitation has been presented.

Energy Underground.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wiley, Catherina L.

2003-01-01

Describes a unit to study the cycling of matter and energy through speleology using cooperative learning groups. Integrates the topic with zoology, biogeochemistry, paleontology, and meteorology. Includes a sample rubric for a salt block cave presentation, unit outline, and processes for studying matter and energy processes in caves. (Author/KHR)

20 CFR 655.81 - Application filing transition.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... EMPLOYMENT OF FOREIGN WORKERS IN THE UNITED STATES Labor Certification Process and Enforcement of Attestations for Temporary Employment in Occupations Other Than Agriculture or Registered Nursing in the United... intended employment prior to the effective date of these regulations, the SWAs shall continue to process...

20 CFR 655.1 - Purpose and scope of subpart A.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... EMPLOYMENT OF FOREIGN WORKERS IN THE UNITED STATES Labor Certification Process and Enforcement of Attestations for Temporary Employment in Occupations Other Than Agriculture or Registered Nursing in the United... governing the labor certification process for the temporary employment of nonimmigrant foreign workers in...

20 CFR 655.3 - Special procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... FOREIGN WORKERS IN THE UNITED STATES Labor Certification Process and Enforcement of Attestations for Temporary Employment in Occupations Other Than Agriculture or Registered Nursing in the United States (H-2B Workers) § 655.3 Special procedures. (a) Systematic process. This subpart provides procedures for the...

COST ESTIMATION MODELS FOR DRINKING WATER TREATMENT UNIT PROCESSES

EPA Science Inventory

Cost models for unit processes typically utilized in a conventional water treatment plant and in package treatment plant technology are compiled in this paper. The cost curves are represented as a function of specified design parameters and are categorized into four major catego...

40 CFR 63.2250 - What are the general requirements?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

..., except during periods of process unit or control device startup, shutdown, and malfunction; prior to process unit initial startup; and during the routine control device maintenance exemption specified in... practice requirements are not operating, or during periods of startup, shutdown, and malfunction. Startup...

40 CFR 63.2250 - What are the general requirements?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

..., except during periods of process unit or control device startup, shutdown, and malfunction; prior to process unit initial startup; and during the routine control device maintenance exemption specified in... practice requirements are not operating, or during periods of startup, shutdown, and malfunction. Startup...

40 CFR 63.2250 - What are the general requirements?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

..., except during periods of process unit or control device startup, shutdown, and malfunction; prior to process unit initial startup; and during the routine control device maintenance exemption specified in... practice requirements are not operating, or during periods of startup, shutdown, and malfunction. Startup...

Evaluation of the effects of the seasonal variation of solar elevation angle and azimuth on the processes of digital filtering and thematic classification of relief units

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Parada, N. D. J. (Principal Investigator); Novo, E. M. L. M.

1983-01-01

The effects of the seasonal variation of illumination over digital processing of LANDSAT images are evaluated. Two sets of LANDSAT data referring to the orbit 150 and row 28 were selected with illumination parameters varying from 43 deg to 64 deg for azimuth and from 30 deg to 36 deg for solar elevation respectively. IMAGE-100 system permitted the digital processing of LANDSAT data. Original images were transformed by means of digital filtering so as to enhance their spatial features. The resulting images were used to obtain an unsupervised classification of relief units. Topographic variables (declivity, altitude, relief range and slope length) were used to identify the true relief units existing on the ground. The LANDSAT over pass data show that digital processing is highly affected by illumination geometry, and there is no correspondence between relief units as defined by spectral features and those resulting from topographic features.

Effect of biomimetic non-smooth unit morphology on thermal fatigue behavior of H13 hot-work tool steel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meng, Chao; Zhou, Hong; Cong, Dalong; Wang, Chuanwei; Zhang, Peng; Zhang, Zhihui; Ren, Luquan

2012-06-01

The thermal fatigue behavior of hot-work tool steel processed by a biomimetic coupled laser remelting process gets a remarkable improvement compared to untreated sample. The 'dowel pin effect', the 'dam effect' and the 'fence effect' of non-smooth units are the main reason of the conspicuous improvement of the thermal fatigue behavior. In order to get a further enhancement of the 'dowel pin effect', the 'dam effect' and the 'fence effect', this study investigated the effect of different unit morphologies (including 'prolate', 'U' and 'V' morphology) and the same unit morphology in different sizes on the thermal fatigue behavior of H13 hot-work tool steel. The results showed that the 'U' morphology unit had the optimum thermal fatigue behavior, then the 'V' morphology which was better than the 'prolate' morphology unit; when the unit morphology was identical, the thermal fatigue behavior of the sample with large unit sizes was better than that of the small sizes.

Laser Processed Heat Exchangers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hansen, Scott

2017-01-01

The Laser Processed Heat Exchanger project will investigate the use of laser processed surfaces to reduce mass and volume in liquid/liquid heat exchangers as well as the replacement of the harmful and problematic coatings of the Condensing Heat Exchangers (CHX). For this project, two scale unit test articles will be designed, manufactured, and tested. These two units are a high efficiency liquid/liquid HX and a high reliability CHX.

Effects of the Scientific Argumentation Based Learning Process on Teaching the Unit of Cell Division and Inheritance to Eighth Grade Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Balci, Ceyda; Yenice, Nilgun

2016-01-01

The aim of this study is to analyse the effects of scientific argumentation based learning process on the eighth grade students' achievement in the unit of "cell division and inheritance". It also deals with the effects of this process on their comprehension about the nature of scientific knowledge, their willingness to take part in…

Nebraska Vocational Agribusiness Curriculum Guide for City Schools. Agricultural Processing. Companion Animals. A Curriculum Guide. 11th Grade.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nebraska Univ., Lincoln. Dept. of Agricultural Education.

Designed for use with high school juniors, this agribusiness curriculum for city schools contains twenty-four units of instruction in the areas of agricultural processing and companion animals. Among the units included in the curriculum are (1) The Meat Processing Industry, (2) Retail Cuts of Meat, (3) Buying Meat and Portion Control, (4) Dairy…

Flat-plate solar array project: Experimental process system development unit for producing semiconductor-grade silicon using the silane-to-silicon process

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1981-01-01

The engineering design, fabrication, assembly, operation, economic analysis, and process support research and development for an Experimental Process System Development Unit for producing semiconductor-grade silicon using the slane-to-silicon process are reported. The design activity was completed. About 95% of purchased equipment was received. The draft of the operations manual was about 50% complete and the design of the free-space system continued. The system using silicon power transfer, melting, and shotting on a psuedocontinuous basis was demonstrated.

Computer Vision for Artificially Intelligent Robotic Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Chialo; Ma, Yung-Lung

1987-04-01

In this paper An Acoustic Imaging Recognition System (AIRS) will be introduced which is installed on an Intelligent Robotic System and can recognize different type of Hand tools' by Dynamic pattern recognition. The dynamic pattern recognition is approached by look up table method in this case, the method can save a lot of calculation time and it is practicable. The Acoustic Imaging Recognition System (AIRS) is consist of four parts -- position control unit, pulse-echo signal processing unit, pattern recognition unit and main control unit. The position control of AIRS can rotate an angle of ±5 degree Horizental and Vertical seperately, the purpose of rotation is to find the maximum reflection intensity area, from the distance, angles and intensity of the target we can decide the characteristic of this target, of course all the decision is target, of course all the decision is processed bye the main control unit. In Pulse-Echo Signal Process Unit, we ultilize the correlation method, to overcome the limitation of short burst of ultrasonic, because the Correlation system can transmit large time bandwidth signals and obtain their resolution and increased intensity through pulse compression in the correlation receiver. The output of correlator is sampled and transfer into digital data by u law coding method, and this data together with delay time T, angle information OH, eV will be sent into main control unit for further analysis. The recognition process in this paper, we use dynamic look up table method, in this method at first we shall set up serval recognition pattern table and then the new pattern scanned by Transducer array will be devided into serval stages and compare with the sampling table. The comparison is implemented by dynamic programing and Markovian process. All the hardware control signals, such as optimum delay time for correlator receiver, horizental and vertical rotation angle for transducer plate, are controlled by the Main Control Unit, the Main Control Unit also handles the pattern recognition process. The distance from the target to the transducer plate is limitted by the power and beam angle of transducer elements, in this AIRS Model, we use a narrow beam transducer and it's input voltage is 50V p-p. A RobOt equipped with AIRS can not only measure the distance from the target but also recognize a three dimensional image of target from the image lab of Robot memory. Indexitems, Accoustic System, Supersonic transducer, Dynamic programming, Look-up-table, Image process, pattern Recognition, Quad Tree, Quadappoach.

Improved Performance Characteristics For Indium Antimonide Photovoltaic Detector Arrays Using A FET-Switched Multiplexing Technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Yung-Lung; Ma, Chialo

1987-03-01

In this paper An Acoustic Imaging Recognition System (AIRS) will be introduced which is installed on an Intelligent Robotic System and can recognize different type of Hand tools' by Dynamic pattern recognition. The dynamic pattern recognition is approached by look up table method in this case, the method can save a lot of calculation time and it is practicable. The Acoustic Imaging Recognition System (AIRS) is consist of four parts _ position control unit, pulse-echo signal processing unit, pattern recognition unit and main control unit. The position control of AIRS can rotate an angle of ±5 degree Horizental and Vertical seperately, the purpose of rotation is to find the maximum reflection intensity area, from the distance, angles and intensity of the target we can decide the characteristic of this target, of course all the decision is target, of course all the decision is processed by the main control unit. In Pulse-Echo Signal Process Unit, we utilize the correlation method, to overcome the limitation of short burst of ultrasonic, because the Correlation system can transmit large time bandwidth signals and obtain their resolution and increased intensity through pulse compression in the correlation receiver. The output of correlator is sampled and transfer into digital data by p law coding method, and this data together with delay time T, angle information eH, eV will be sent into main control unit for further analysis. The recognition process in this paper, we use dynamic look up table method, in this method at first we shall set up serval recognition pattern table and then the new pattern scanned by Transducer array will be devided into serval stages and compare with the sampling table. The comparison is implemented by dynamic programing and Markovian process. All the hardware control signals, such as optimum delay time for correlator receiver, horizental and vertical rotation angle for transducer plate, are controlled by the Main Control Unit, the Main Control Unit also handles the pattern recognition process. The distance from the target to the transducer plate is limitted by the power and beam angle of transducer elements, in this AIRS Models, we use a narrow beam transducer and it's input voltage is 50V p-p. A Robot equipped with AIRS can not only measure the distance from the target but also recognize a three dimensional image of target from the image lab of Robot memory. Indexitems, Accoustic System, Supersonic transducer, Dynamic programming, Look-up-table, Image process, pattern Recognition, Quad Tree, Quadappoach.

Modeling of yield and environmental impact categories in tea processing units based on artificial neural networks.

PubMed

Khanali, Majid; Mobli, Hossein; Hosseinzadeh-Bandbafha, Homa

2017-12-01

In this study, an artificial neural network (ANN) model was developed for predicting the yield and life cycle environmental impacts based on energy inputs required in processing of black tea, green tea, and oolong tea in Guilan province of Iran. A life cycle assessment (LCA) approach was used to investigate the environmental impact categories of processed tea based on the cradle to gate approach, i.e., from production of input materials using raw materials to the gate of tea processing units, i.e., packaged tea. Thus, all the tea processing operations such as withering, rolling, fermentation, drying, and packaging were considered in the analysis. The initial data were obtained from tea processing units while the required data about the background system was extracted from the EcoInvent 2.2 database. LCA results indicated that diesel fuel and corrugated paper box used in drying and packaging operations, respectively, were the main hotspots. Black tea processing unit caused the highest pollution among the three processing units. Three feed-forward back-propagation ANN models based on Levenberg-Marquardt training algorithm with two hidden layers accompanied by sigmoid activation functions and a linear transfer function in output layer, were applied for three types of processed tea. The neural networks were developed based on energy equivalents of eight different input parameters (energy equivalents of fresh tea leaves, human labor, diesel fuel, electricity, adhesive, carton, corrugated paper box, and transportation) and 11 output parameters (yield, global warming, abiotic depletion, acidification, eutrophication, ozone layer depletion, human toxicity, freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity, marine aquatic ecotoxicity, terrestrial ecotoxicity, and photochemical oxidation). The results showed that the developed ANN models with R 2 values in the range of 0.878 to 0.990 had excellent performance in predicting all the output variables based on inputs. Energy consumption for processing of green tea, oolong tea, and black tea were calculated as 58,182, 60,947, and 66,301 MJ per ton of dry tea, respectively.

Grace: A cross-platform micromagnetic simulator on graphics processing units

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Ru

2015-12-01

A micromagnetic simulator running on graphics processing units (GPUs) is presented. Different from GPU implementations of other research groups which are predominantly running on NVidia's CUDA platform, this simulator is developed with C++ Accelerated Massive Parallelism (C++ AMP) and is hardware platform independent. It runs on GPUs from venders including NVidia, AMD and Intel, and achieves significant performance boost as compared to previous central processing unit (CPU) simulators, up to two orders of magnitude. The simulator paved the way for running large size micromagnetic simulations on both high-end workstations with dedicated graphics cards and low-end personal computers with integrated graphics cards, and is freely available to download.

Microchannel Distillation of JP-8 Jet Fuel for Sulfur Content Reduction

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zheng, Feng; Stenkamp, Victoria S.; TeGrotenhuis, Ward E.

2006-09-16

In microchannel based distillation processes, thin vapor and liquid films are contacted in small channels where mass transfer is diffusion-limited. The microchannel architecture enables improvements in distillation processes. A shorter height equivalent of a theoretical plate (HETP) and therefore a more compact distillation unit can be achieved. A microchannel distillation unit was used to produce a light fraction of JP-8 fuel with reduced sulfur content for use as feed to produce fuel-cell grade hydrogen. The HETP of the microchannel unit is discussed, as well as the effects of process conditions such as feed temperature, flow rate, and reflux ratio.

Evaluation of Selected Chemical Processes for Production of Low-cost Silicon, Phase 3. [using a fluidized bed reactor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blocher, J. M., Jr.; Browning, M. F.

1979-01-01

The construction and operation of an experimental process system development unit (EPSDU) for the production of granular semiconductor grade silicon by the zinc vapor reduction of silicon tetrachloride in a fluidized bed of seed particles is presented. The construction of the process development unit (PDU) is reported. The PDU consists of four critical units of the EPSDU: the fluidized bed reactor, the reactor by product condenser, the zinc vaporizer, and the electrolytic cell. An experimental wetted wall condenser and its operation are described. Procedures are established for safe handling of SiCl4 leaks and spills from the EPSDU and PDU.

Strategic planning in healthcare organizations.

PubMed

Rodríguez Perera, Francisco de Paula; Peiró, Manel

2012-08-01

Strategic planning is a completely valid and useful tool for guiding all types of organizations, including healthcare organizations. The organizational level at which the strategic planning process is relevant depends on the unit's size, its complexity, and the differentiation of the service provided. A cardiology department, a hemodynamic unit, or an electrophysiology unit can be an appropriate level, as long as their plans align with other plans at higher levels. The leader of each unit is the person responsible for promoting the planning process, a core and essential part of his or her role. The process of strategic planning is programmable, systematic, rational, and holistic and integrates the short, medium, and long term, allowing the healthcare organization to focus on relevant and lasting transformations for the future. Copyright © 2012 Sociedad Española de Cardiología. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

20 CFR 655.5 - Purpose and scope of subpart A.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... EMPLOYMENT OF FOREIGN WORKERS IN THE UNITED STATES Labor Certification Process and Enforcement of Attestations for Temporary Employment in Occupations Other Than Agriculture or Registered Nursing in the United... certification process for the temporary employment of nonimmigrant foreign workers in the U.S. in occupations...

21 CFR 211.100 - Written procedures; deviations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... Process Controls § 211.100 Written procedures; deviations. (a) There shall be written procedures for production and process control designed to assure that the drug products have the identity, strength, quality... approved by the appropriate organizational units and reviewed and approved by the quality control unit. (b...

21 CFR 211.100 - Written procedures; deviations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... Process Controls § 211.100 Written procedures; deviations. (a) There shall be written procedures for production and process control designed to assure that the drug products have the identity, strength, quality... approved by the appropriate organizational units and reviewed and approved by the quality control unit. (b...

21 CFR 211.100 - Written procedures; deviations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... Process Controls § 211.100 Written procedures; deviations. (a) There shall be written procedures for production and process control designed to assure that the drug products have the identity, strength, quality... approved by the appropriate organizational units and reviewed and approved by the quality control unit. (b...

21 CFR 211.100 - Written procedures; deviations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... Process Controls § 211.100 Written procedures; deviations. (a) There shall be written procedures for production and process control designed to assure that the drug products have the identity, strength, quality... approved by the appropriate organizational units and reviewed and approved by the quality control unit. (b...

21 CFR 211.100 - Written procedures; deviations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... Process Controls § 211.100 Written procedures; deviations. (a) There shall be written procedures for production and process control designed to assure that the drug products have the identity, strength, quality... approved by the appropriate organizational units and reviewed and approved by the quality control unit. (b...

40 CFR 63.2250 - What are the general requirements?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... periods of process unit or control device startup, shutdown, and malfunction; prior to process unit initial startup; and during the routine control device maintenance exemption specified in § 63.2251. The... are not operating, or during periods of startup, shutdown, and malfunction. Startup and shutdown...

40 CFR 63.2250 - What are the general requirements?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... periods of process unit or control device startup, shutdown, and malfunction; prior to process unit initial startup; and during the routine control device maintenance exemption specified in § 63.2251. The... are not operating, or during periods of startup, shutdown, and malfunction. Startup and shutdown...

40 CFR 63.1100 - Applicability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... suspension containing acrylonitrile. c Heat exchange systems as defined in § 63.1103(e)(2). d Fiber spinning... those process units that meet the criteria of paragraph (e)(8)(i) of this section. (f) Recovery operation equipment ownership determination. To determine the process unit to which recovery equipment shall...

40 CFR 63.1100 - Applicability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... suspension containing acrylonitrile. c Heat exchange systems as defined in § 63.1103(e)(2). d Fiber spinning... those process units that meet the criteria of paragraph (e)(8)(i) of this section. (f) Recovery operation equipment ownership determination. To determine the process unit to which recovery equipment shall...

40 CFR 63.1100 - Applicability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... suspension containing acrylonitrile. c Heat exchange systems as defined in § 63.1103(e)(2). d Fiber spinning... those process units that meet the criteria of paragraph (e)(8)(i) of this section. (f) Recovery operation equipment ownership determination. To determine the process unit to which recovery equipment shall...

Eutrophication, A Natural Process.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Monsour, William

This environmental education learning unit deals with the topic of eutrophication. The unit is designed to allow secondary teachers of science, language arts, and social studies to use it as supplementary material in their classroom. Teacher information, unit objectives, the unit text, and appendices are included. The teacher information section…

Quality Assurance in American and British Higher Education: A Comparison.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stanley, Elizabeth C.; Patrick, William J.

1998-01-01

Compares quality improvement and accountability processes in the United States and United Kingdom. For the United Kingdom, looks at quality audits, institutional assessment, standards-based quality assurance, and research assessment; in the United States, looks at regional and specialized accreditation, performance indicator systems, academic…

Geomorphic Processes and Remote Sensing Signatures of Alluvial Fans in the Kun Lun Mountains, China

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Farr, Tom G.; Chadwick, Oliver A.

1996-01-01

The timing of alluvial deposition in arid and semiarid areas is tied to land-surface instability caused by regional climate changes. The distribution pattern of dated deposits provides maps of regional land-surface response to past climate change. Sensitivity to differences in surface roughness and composition makes remote sensing techniques useful for regional mapping of alluvial deposits. Radar images from the Spaceborne Radar Laboratory and visible wavelength images from the French SPOT satellite were used to determine remote sensing signatures of alluvial fan units for an area in the Kun Lun Mountains of northwestern China. These data were combined with field observations to compare surface processes and their effects on remote sensing signatures in northwestern China and the southwestern United States. Geomorphic processes affecting alluvial fans in the two areas include aeolian deposition, desert varnish, and fluvial dissection. However, salt weathering is a much more important process in the Kun Lun than in the southwestern United States. This slows the formation of desert varnish and prevents desert pavement from forming. Thus the Kun Lun signatures are characteristic of the dominance of salt weathering, while signatures from the southwestern United States are characteristic of the dominance of desert varnish and pavement processes. Remote sensing signatures are consistent enough in these two regions to be used for mapping fan units over large areas.

Low cost solar array project: Experimental process system development unit for producing semiconductor-grade silicon using silane-to-silicon process

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1980-01-01

The design, fabrication, and installation of an experimental process system development unit (EPSDU) were analyzed. Supporting research and development were performed to provide an information data base usable for the EPSDU and for technological design and economical analysis for potential scale-up of the process. Iterative economic analyses were conducted for the estimated product cost for the production of semiconductor grade silicon in a facility capable of producing 1000-MT/Yr.

Evaluation of a Combined Cyclone and Gas Filtration System for Particulate Removal in the Gasification Process

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rizzo, Jeffrey J.

2010-04-30

The Wabash gasification facility, owned and operated by sgSolutions LLC, is one of the largest single train solid fuel gasification facilities in the world capable of transforming 2,000 tons per day of petroleum coke or 2,600 tons per day of bituminous coal into synthetic gas for electrical power generation. The Wabash plant utilizes Phillips66 proprietary E-Gas (TM) Gasification Process to convert solid fuels such as petroleum coke or coal into synthetic gas that is fed to a combined cycle combustion turbine power generation facility. During plant startup in 1995, reliability issues were realized in the gas filtration portion of themore » gasification process. To address these issues, a slipstream test unit was constructed at the Wabash facility to test various filter designs, materials and process conditions for potential reliability improvement. The char filtration slipstream unit provided a way of testing new materials, maintenance procedures, and process changes without the risk of stopping commercial production in the facility. It also greatly reduced maintenance expenditures associated with full scale testing in the commercial plant. This char filtration slipstream unit was installed with assistance from the United States Department of Energy (built under DOE Contract No. DE-FC26-97FT34158) and began initial testing in November of 1997. It has proven to be extremely beneficial in the advancement of the E-Gas (TM) char removal technology by accurately predicting filter behavior and potential failure mechanisms that would occur in the commercial process. After completing four (4) years of testing various filter types and configurations on numerous gasification feed stocks, a decision was made to investigate the economic and reliability effects of using a particulate removal gas cyclone upstream of the current gas filtration unit. A paper study had indicated that there was a real potential to lower both installed capital and operating costs by implementing a char cyclonefiltration hybrid unit in the E-Gas (TM) gasification process. These reductions would help to keep the E-Gas (TM) technology competitive among other coal-fired power generation technologies. The Wabash combined cyclone and gas filtration slipstream test program was developed to provide design information, equipment specification and process control parameters of a hybrid cyclone and candle filter particulate removal system in the E-Gas (TM) gasification process that would provide the optimum performance and reliability for future commercial use. The test program objectives were as follows: 1. Evaluate the use of various cyclone materials of construction; 2. Establish the optimal cyclone efficiency that provides stable long term gas filter operation; 3. Determine the particle size distribution of the char separated by both the cyclone and candle filters. This will provide insight into cyclone efficiency and potential future plant design; 4. Determine the optimum filter media size requirements for the cyclone-filtration hybrid unit; 5. Determine the appropriate char transfer rates for both the cyclone and filtration portions of the hybrid unit; 6. Develop operating procedures for the cyclone-filtration hybrid unit; and, 7. Compare the installed capital cost of a scaled-up commercial cyclone-filtration hybrid unit to the current gas filtration design without a cyclone unit, such as currently exists at the Wabash facility.« less

Engaging Frontline Staff in Performance Improvement: The American Organization of Nurse Executives Implementation of Transforming Care at the Bedside Collaborative.

PubMed

Needleman, Jack; Pearson, Marjorie L; Upenieks, Valda V; Yee, Tracy; Wolstein, Joelle; Parkerton, Melissa

2016-02-01

Process improvement stresses the importance of engaging frontline staff in implementing new processes and methods. Yet questions remain on how to incorporate these activities into the workday of hospital staff or how to create and maintain its commitment. In a 15-month American Organization of Nurse Executives collaborative involving frontline medical/surgical staff from 67 hospitals, Transforming Care at the Bedside (TCAB) was evaluated to assess whether participating units successfully implemented recommended change processes, engaged staff, implemented innovations, and generated support from hospital leadership and staff. In a mixed-methods analysis, multiple data sources, including leader surveys, unit staff surveys, administrative data, time study data, and collaborative documents were used. All units reported establishing unit-based teams, of which >90% succeeded in conducting tests of change, with unit staff selecting topics and making decisions on adoption. Fifty-five percent of unit staff reported participating in unit meetings, and 64%, in tests of change. Unit managers reported substantial increase in staff support for the initiative. An average 36 tests of change were conducted per unit, with 46% of tested innovations sustained, and 20% spread to other units. Some 95% of managers and 97% of chief nursing officers believed that the program had made unit staff more likely to initiate change. Among staff, 83% would encourage adoption of the initiative. Given the strong positive assessment of TCAB, evidence of substantial engagement of staff in the work, and the high volume of innovations tested, implemented, and sustained, TCAB appears to be a productive model for organizing and implementing a program of frontline-led improvement.

Scale-up of mild gasification to be a process development unit mildgas 24 ton/day PDU design report. Final report, November 1991--July 1996

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

From November 1991 to April 1996, Kerr McGee Coal Corporation (K-M Coal) led a project to develop the Institute of Gas Technology (IGT) Mild Gasification (MILDGAS) process for near-term commercialization. The specific objectives of the program were to: design, construct, and operate a 24-tons/day adiabatic process development unit (PDU) to obtain process performance data suitable for further design scale-up; obtain large batches of coal-derived co-products for industrial evaluation; prepare a detailed design of a demonstration unit; and develop technical and economic plans for commercialization of the MILDGAS process. The project team for the PDU development program consisted of: K-M Coal,more » IGT, Bechtel Corporation, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIUC), General Motors (GM), Pellet Technology Corporation (PTC), LTV Steel, Armco Steel, Reilly Industries, and Auto Research.« less

APC implementation in Chandra Asri - ethylene plant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sidiq, Mochamad; Mustofa, Ali

2017-05-01

Nowadays, the modern process plants are continuously improved for maximizing production, Optimization of the energy and raw material and reducing the risk. Due to many disturbances appearance between the process units, hence, the failure of one unit might have a bad effect on the overall productivity. Ethylene Plant have significant opportunities for using Advanced Process Control (APC) technologies to improve operation stability, push closer to quality or equipment limit, and improve the capability of process units to handle disturbances. APC implementation had considered a best answer for solving multivariable control problem. PT. Chandra Asri Petrochemical, Tbk (CAP) operates a large naphtha cracker complex at Cilegon, Indonesia. To optimize the plant operation and to enhance the benefit, Chandra Asri has been decided to implement Advance Process Control (APC) for ethylene plant. The APC implementation technology scopes at CAP are as follows: 1. Hot Section : Furnaces, Quench Tower 2. Cold Section : Demethanizer, Deethanizer, Acetylene Converter, Ethylene Fractionator, Depropanizer, Propylene Fractionator, Debutanizer

Low Quality Natural Gas Sulfur Removal and Recovery CNG Claus Sulfur Recovery Process

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Klint, V.W.; Dale, P.R.; Stephenson, C.

1997-10-01

Increased use of natural gas (methane) in the domestic energy market will force the development of large non-producing gas reserves now considered to be low quality. Large reserves of low quality natural gas (LQNG) contaminated with hydrogen sulfide (H{sub 2}S), carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) and nitrogen (N) are available but not suitable for treatment using current conventional gas treating methods due to economic and environmental constraints. A group of three technologies have been integrated to allow for processing of these LQNG reserves; the Controlled Freeze Zone (CFZ) process for hydrocarbon / acid gas separation; the Triple Point Crystallizer (TPC) processmore » for H{sub 2}S / C0{sub 2} separation and the CNG Claus process for recovery of elemental sulfur from H{sub 2}S. The combined CFZ/TPC/CNG Claus group of processes is one program aimed at developing an alternative gas treating technology which is both economically and environmentally suitable for developing these low quality natural gas reserves. The CFZ/TPC/CNG Claus process is capable of treating low quality natural gas containing >10% C0{sub 2} and measurable levels of H{sub 2}S and N{sub 2} to pipeline specifications. The integrated CFZ / CNG Claus Process or the stand-alone CNG Claus Process has a number of attractive features for treating LQNG. The processes are capable of treating raw gas with a variety of trace contaminant components. The processes can also accommodate large changes in raw gas composition and flow rates. The combined processes are capable of achieving virtually undetectable levels of H{sub 2}S and significantly less than 2% CO in the product methane. The separation processes operate at pressure and deliver a high pressure (ca. 100 psia) acid gas (H{sub 2}S) stream for processing in the CNG Claus unit. This allows for substantial reductions in plant vessel size as compared to conventional Claus / Tail gas treating technologies. A close integration of the components of the CNG Claus process also allow for use of the methane/H{sub 2}S separation unit as a Claus tail gas treating unit by recycling the CNG Claus tail gas stream. This allows for virtually 100 percent sulfur recovery efficiency (virtually zero SO{sub 2} emissions) by recycling the sulfur laden tail gas to extinction. The use of the tail gas recycle scheme also deemphasizes the conventional requirement in Claus units to have high unit conversion efficiency and thereby make the operation much less affected by process upsets and feed gas composition changes. The development of these technologies has been ongoing for many years and both the CFZ and the TPC processes have been demonstrated at large pilot plant scales. On the other hand, prior to this project, the CNG Claus process had not been proven at any scale. Therefore, the primary objective of this portion of the program was to design, build and operate a pilot scale CNG Claus unit and demonstrate the required fundamental reaction chemistry and also demonstrate the viability of a reasonably sized working unit.« less

Food Processing Curriculum Material and Resource Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Louisiana State Dept. of Education, Baton Rouge.

Intended for secondary vocational agriculture teachers, this curriculum guide contains a course outline and a resource manual for a seven-unit food processing course on meats. Within the course outline, units are divided into separate lessons. Materials provided for each lesson include preparation for instruction (student objectives, review of…

77 FR 12882 - Labor Certification Process for the Temporary Employment of Aliens in Agriculture in the United...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-02

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employment and Training Administration Labor Certification Process for the Temporary Employment of Aliens in Agriculture in the United States: 2012 Allowable Charges for Agricultural Workers' Meals and Travel Subsistence Reimbursement, Including Lodging AGENCY: Employment and Training...

78 FR 15741 - Labor Certification Process for the Temporary Employment of Aliens in Agriculture in the United...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-03-12

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employment and Training Administration Labor Certification Process for the Temporary Employment of Aliens in Agriculture in the United States: 2013 Allowable Charges for Agricultural Workers' Meals and Travel Subsistence Reimbursement, Including Lodging AGENCY: Employment and Training...

77 FR 13635 - Labor Certification Process for the Temporary Employment of Aliens in Agriculture in the United...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-07

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employment and Training Administration Labor Certification Process for the Temporary Employment of Aliens in Agriculture in the United States: 2012 Allowable Charges for Agricultural Workers' Meals and Travel Subsistence Reimbursement, Including Lodging AGENCY: Employment and Training...

76 FR 11286 - Labor Certification Process for the Temporary Employment of Aliens in Agriculture in the United...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-01

... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employment and Training Administration Labor Certification Process for the Temporary Employment of Aliens in Agriculture in the United States: 2011 Adverse Effect Wage Rates, Allowable Charges for Agricultural Workers' Meals, and Maximum Travel Subsistence Reimbursement AGENCY...

20 CFR 655.31 - Debarment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... WORKERS IN THE UNITED STATES Labor Certification Process and Enforcement of Attestations for Temporary Employment in Occupations Other Than Agriculture or Registered Nursing in the United States (H-2B Workers... a significant failure to comply with the RFI or audit process pursuant to §§ 655.23 or 655.24; (v...

20 CFR 655.75 - Decision and order of administrative law judge.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... LABOR TEMPORARY EMPLOYMENT OF FOREIGN WORKERS IN THE UNITED STATES Labor Certification Process and... Nursing in the United States (H-2B Workers) § 655.75 Decision and order of administrative law judge. (a... determination resulting from that process. Under no circumstances shall the administrative law judge determine...

37 CFR 7.4 - Receipt of correspondence.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

..., DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE RULES OF PRACTICE IN FILINGS PURSUANT TO THE PROTOCOL RELATING TO THE MADRID AGREEMENT... to review an action of the Office's Madrid Processing Unit, when filed by mail, must be addressed to: Madrid Processing Unit, 600 Dulany Street, MDE-7B87, Alexandria, VA 22314-5793. (1) International...

37 CFR 7.4 - Receipt of correspondence.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

..., DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE RULES OF PRACTICE IN FILINGS PURSUANT TO THE PROTOCOL RELATING TO THE MADRID AGREEMENT... to review an action of the Office's Madrid Processing Unit, when filed by mail, must be addressed to: Madrid Processing Unit, 600 Dulany Street, MDE-7B87, Alexandria, VA 22314-5793. (1) International...

37 CFR 7.4 - Receipt of correspondence.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

..., DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE RULES OF PRACTICE IN FILINGS PURSUANT TO THE PROTOCOL RELATING TO THE MADRID AGREEMENT... to review an action of the Office's Madrid Processing Unit, when filed by mail, must be addressed to: Madrid Processing Unit, 600 Dulany Street, MDE-7B87, Alexandria, VA 22314-5793. (1) International...

37 CFR 7.4 - Receipt of correspondence.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

..., DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE RULES OF PRACTICE IN FILINGS PURSUANT TO THE PROTOCOL RELATING TO THE MADRID AGREEMENT... to review an action of the Office's Madrid Processing Unit, when filed by mail, must be addressed to: Madrid Processing Unit, 600 Dulany Street, MDE-7B87, Alexandria, VA 22314-5793. (1) International...

ECO LOGIC INTERNATIONAL GAS-PHASE CHEMICAL REDUCTION PROCESS - THE THERMAL DESORPTION UNIT - APPLICATIONS ANALYSIS REPORT

EPA Science Inventory

ELI ECO Logic International, Inc.'s Thermal Desorption Unit (TDU) is specifically designed for use with Eco Logic's Gas Phase Chemical Reduction Process. The technology uses an externally heated bath of molten tin in a hydrogen atmosphere to desorb hazardous organic compounds fro...

Recent advances in chemical modification and processing of cotton fibers for specific end-use applications

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The Cotton Chemistry and Utilization Research Unit is part of the Agricultural Research Service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific in-house research agency. The Research Unit develops new processes, applications and product enabling technologies which facilitate the expanded use ...

Batik Designs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Henn, Cynthia

2004-01-01

In this article, the author describes a unit she implemented on Batik designs. This unit helped second-graders gain an understanding of the batik process while learning about mask designs and the Senegalese culture. Batik has origins in many areas around the world, including Indonesia and West Africa. This fabric-resist process involves the…

Performance Testing of GPU-Based Approximate Matching Algorithm on Network Traffic

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-03-01

Defense Department’s use. vi THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK vii TABLE OF CONTENTS I.  INTRODUCTION...22  D.  GENERATING DIGESTS ............................................................................23  1.  Reference...the-shelf GPU Graphical Processing Unit GPGPU General -Purpose Graphic Processing Unit HBSS Host-Based Security System HIPS Host Intrusion

US Federal LCA Commons Life Cycle Inventory Unit Process Template

EPA Science Inventory

The US Federal LCA Commons Life Cycle Inventory Unit Process Template is a multi-sheet Excel template for life cycle inventory data, metadata and other documentation. The template comes as a package that consistent of three parts: (1) the main template itself for life cycle inven...

Teaching Children Science. Second Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abruscato, Joseph

This book focuses on science teaching at the elementary school level. It includes chapters dealing with various science content areas and teaching processes including: (1) what is science; (2) why teach science; (3) process skills as a foundation for unit and lesson planning; (4) how to plan learning units, daily lessons, and assessment…

Parallelized CCHE2D flow model with CUDA Fortran on Graphics Process Units

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

This paper presents the CCHE2D implicit flow model parallelized using CUDA Fortran programming technique on Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). A parallelized implicit Alternating Direction Implicit (ADI) solver using Parallel Cyclic Reduction (PCR) algorithm on GPU is developed and tested. This solve...

Startup of Pumping Units in Process Water Supplies with Cooling Towers at Thermal and Nuclear Power Plants

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Berlin, V. V., E-mail: vberlin@rinet.ru; Murav’ev, O. A., E-mail: muraviov1954@mail.ru; Golubev, A. V., E-mail: electronik@inbox.ru

Aspects of the startup of pumping units in the cooling and process water supply systems for thermal and nuclear power plants with cooling towers, the startup stages, and the limits imposed on the extreme parameters during transients are discussed.

40 CFR 63.1579 - What definitions apply to this subpart?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... process characterized by continual batch regeneration of catalyst in situ in any one of several reactors... device that treats (in-situ) the catalytic reforming unit recirculating coke burn exhaust gases for acid... or operator's convenience for in situ catalyst regeneration. Sulfur recovery unit means a process...

40 CFR 63.1579 - What definitions apply to this subpart?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... process characterized by continual batch regeneration of catalyst in situ in any one of several reactors... device that treats (in-situ) the catalytic reforming unit recirculating coke burn exhaust gases for acid... or operator's convenience for in situ catalyst regeneration. Sulfur recovery unit means a process...

Graphic Arts: Book Three. The Press and Related Processes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Farajollahi, Karim; And Others

The third of a three-volume set of instructional materials for a graphic arts course, this manual consists of nine instructional units dealing with presses and related processes. Covered in the units are basic press fundamentals, offset press systems, offset press operating procedures, offset inks and dampening chemistry, preventive maintenance…

Plant Puzzles, An Environmental Investigation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Wildlife Federation, Washington, DC.

This environmental unit is one of a series designed for integration within an existing curriculum. The unit is self-contained and requires minimal teacher preparation. The philosophy of the units is based on an experience-oriented process that encourages self-paced independent student work. The purpose of this unit is to familiarize students with…

Shadows, An Environmental Investigation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Wildlife Federation, Washington, DC.

This environmental unit is one of a series designed for integration within an existing curriculum. The units are self-contained and require minimal teacher preparation. The philosophy behind the units is based on an experience-oriented process that encourages self-paced independent work. This unit on shadows is designed for all elementary levels,…

Reasons for exclusion of 6820 umbilical cord blood donations in a public cord blood bank.

PubMed

Wang, Tso-Fu; Wen, Shu-Hui; Yang, Kuo-Liang; Yang, Shang-Hsien; Yang, Yun-Fan; Chang, Chu-Yu; Wu, Yi-Feng; Chen, Shu-Huey

2014-01-01

To provide information for umbilical cord blood (UCB) banks to adopt optimal collection strategies and to make UCB banks operate efficiently, we investigated the reasons for exclusion of UCB units in a 3-year recruitment period. We analyzed records of the reasons for exclusion of the potential UCB donation from 2004 to 2006 in the Tzu-Chi Cord Blood Bank and compared the results over 3 years. We grouped these reasons for exclusion into five phases, before collection, during delivery, before processing, during processing, and after freezing according to the time sequence and analyzed the reasons at each phase. Between 2004 and 2006, there were 10,685 deliveries with the intention of UCB donation. In total, 41.2% of the UCB units were considered eligible for transplantation. The exclusion rates were 93.1, 48.4, and 54.1% in 2004, 2005, and 2006, respectively. We excluded 612 donations from women before their child birth, 133 UCB units during delivery, 80 units before processing, 5010 units during processing, and 421 units after freezing. There were 24 UCB units with unknown reasons of ineligibility. Low UCB weight and low cell count were the first two leading causes of exclusion (48.6 and 30.9%). The prevalence of artificial errors, holiday or transportation problem, low weight, and infant problems decreased year after year. The exclusion rate was high at the beginning of our study as in previous studies. Understanding the reasons for UCB exclusion may help to improve the efficiency of UCB banking programs in the future. © 2013 American Association of Blood Banks.

KSC-98pc150

NASA Image and Video Library

1998-01-14

The Photovoltaic Module 1 Integrated Equipment Assembly (IEA) is moved through Kennedy Space Center’s Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) toward the workstand where it will be processed for flight on STS-97, scheduled for launch in April 1999. The IEA is one of four integral units designed to generate, distribute, and store power for the International Space Station. It will carry solar arrays, power storage batteries, power control units, and a thermal control system. The 16-foot-long, 16,850-pound unit is now undergoing preflight preparations in the SSPF

KSC-98pc154

NASA Image and Video Library

1998-01-14

The Photovoltaic Module 1 Integrated Equipment Assembly (IEA) is lowered into its workstand at Kennedy Space Center’s Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF), where it will be processed for flight on STS-97, scheduled for launch in April 1999. The IEA is one of four integral units designed to generate, distribute, and store power for the International Space Station. It will carry solar arrays, power storage batteries, power control units, and a thermal control system. The 16-foot-long, 16,850-pound unit is now undergoing preflight preparations in the SSPF

78 FR 36279 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; New York Stock Exchange LLC; Notice of Filing and Immediate...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-06-17

... Number of DMM Units an Issuer Must Interview From the Pool of DMM Units Eligible To Participate in the... units an issuer must interview from the pool of DMM units eligible to participate in the allocation. The... issuer must interview from the pool of DMM units eligible to participate in the allocation process. Rule...

University of California, Irvine, Student Affirmative Action Five-Year Plan and Planning Process, 1984-1988. Volume II.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galligani, Dennis J.

This second volume of the University of California, Irvine (UCI), Student Affirmative Action (SAA) Five-Year Plan contains the complete student affirmative action plans as submitted by 33 academic and administrative units at UCI. The volume is organized by type of unit: academic units, academic retention units, outreach units, and student life…

Interim results of quality-control sampling of surface water for the Upper Colorado River National Water-Quality Assessment Study Unit, water years 1995-96

USGS Publications Warehouse

Spahr, N.E.; Boulger, R.W.

1997-01-01

Quality-control samples provide part of the information needed to estimate the bias and variability that result from sample collection, processing, and analysis. Quality-control samples of surface water collected for the Upper Colorado River National Water-Quality Assessment study unit for water years 1995?96 are presented and analyzed in this report. The types of quality-control samples collected include pre-processing split replicates, concurrent replicates, sequential replicates, post-processing split replicates, and field blanks. Analysis of the pre-processing split replicates, concurrent replicates, sequential replicates, and post-processing split replicates is based on differences between analytical results of the environmental samples and analytical results of the quality-control samples. Results of these comparisons indicate that variability introduced by sample collection, processing, and handling is low and will not affect interpretation of the environmental data. The differences for most water-quality constituents is on the order of plus or minus 1 or 2 lowest rounding units. A lowest rounding unit is equivalent to the magnitude of the least significant figure reported for analytical results. The use of lowest rounding units avoids some of the difficulty in comparing differences between pairs of samples when concentrations span orders of magnitude and provides a measure of the practical significance of the effect of variability. Analysis of field-blank quality-control samples indicates that with the exception of chloride and silica, no systematic contamination of samples is apparent. Chloride contamination probably was the result of incomplete rinsing of the dilute cleaning solution from the outlet ports of the decaport sample splitter. Silica contamination seems to have been introduced by the blank water. Sampling and processing procedures for water year 1997 have been modified as a result of these analyses.

Real-time radar signal processing using GPGPU (general-purpose graphic processing unit)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kong, Fanxing; Zhang, Yan Rockee; Cai, Jingxiao; Palmer, Robert D.

2016-05-01

This study introduces a practical approach to develop real-time signal processing chain for general phased array radar on NVIDIA GPUs(Graphical Processing Units) using CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) libraries such as cuBlas and cuFFT, which are adopted from open source libraries and optimized for the NVIDIA GPUs. The processed results are rigorously verified against those from the CPUs. Performance benchmarked in computation time with various input data cube sizes are compared across GPUs and CPUs. Through the analysis, it will be demonstrated that GPGPUs (General Purpose GPU) real-time processing of the array radar data is possible with relatively low-cost commercial GPUs.

Cultural traits as units of analysis.

PubMed

O'Brien, Michael J; Lyman, R Lee; Mesoudi, Alex; VanPool, Todd L

2010-12-12

Cultural traits have long been used in anthropology as units of transmission that ostensibly reflect behavioural characteristics of the individuals or groups exhibiting the traits. After they are transmitted, cultural traits serve as units of replication in that they can be modified as part of an individual's cultural repertoire through processes such as recombination, loss or partial alteration within an individual's mind. Cultural traits are analogous to genes in that organisms replicate them, but they are also replicators in their own right. No one has ever seen a unit of transmission, either behavioural or genetic, although we can observe the effects of transmission. Fortunately, such units are manifest in artefacts, features and other components of the archaeological record, and they serve as proxies for studying the transmission (and modification) of cultural traits, provided there is analytical clarity over how to define and measure the units that underlie this inheritance process.

Cultural traits as units of analysis

PubMed Central

O'Brien, Michael J.; Lyman, R. Lee; Mesoudi, Alex; VanPool, Todd L.

2010-01-01

Cultural traits have long been used in anthropology as units of transmission that ostensibly reflect behavioural characteristics of the individuals or groups exhibiting the traits. After they are transmitted, cultural traits serve as units of replication in that they can be modified as part of an individual's cultural repertoire through processes such as recombination, loss or partial alteration within an individual's mind. Cultural traits are analogous to genes in that organisms replicate them, but they are also replicators in their own right. No one has ever seen a unit of transmission, either behavioural or genetic, although we can observe the effects of transmission. Fortunately, such units are manifest in artefacts, features and other components of the archaeological record, and they serve as proxies for studying the transmission (and modification) of cultural traits, provided there is analytical clarity over how to define and measure the units that underlie this inheritance process. PMID:21041205

Systems and methods for interactive virtual reality process control and simulation

DOEpatents

Daniel, Jr., William E.; Whitney, Michael A.

2001-01-01

A system for visualizing, controlling and managing information includes a data analysis unit for interpreting and classifying raw data using analytical techniques. A data flow coordination unit routes data from its source to other components within the system. A data preparation unit handles the graphical preparation of the data and a data rendering unit presents the data in a three-dimensional interactive environment where the user can observe, interact with, and interpret the data. A user can view the information on various levels, from a high overall process level view, to a view illustrating linkage between variables, to view the hard data itself, or to view results of an analysis of the data. The system allows a user to monitor a physical process in real-time and further allows the user to manage and control the information in a manner not previously possible.

Multiple use of water in industry--the textile industry case.

PubMed

Rott, Ulrich

2003-08-01

The main aim of this article is to give a review on the state of the art of available processes for the advanced treatment of wastewater from Textile Processing Industry (TPI). After an introduction to the specific wastewater situation of the TPI the article reviews the options of process and production integrated measures. The available unit processes and examples of applied combinations of unit processes are described. A special place is given to the in-plant treatment, the reuse of the treated split flow or mixed wastewater and the recovery of textile auxiliaries and dyes.

Ising Processing Units: Potential and Challenges for Discrete Optimization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Coffrin, Carleton James; Nagarajan, Harsha; Bent, Russell Whitford

The recent emergence of novel computational devices, such as adiabatic quantum computers, CMOS annealers, and optical parametric oscillators, presents new opportunities for hybrid-optimization algorithms that leverage these kinds of specialized hardware. In this work, we propose the idea of an Ising processing unit as a computational abstraction for these emerging tools. Challenges involved in using and bench- marking these devices are presented, and open-source software tools are proposed to address some of these challenges. The proposed benchmarking tools and methodology are demonstrated by conducting a baseline study of established solution methods to a D-Wave 2X adiabatic quantum computer, one examplemore » of a commercially available Ising processing unit.« less

Fast, multi-channel real-time processing of signals with microsecond latency using graphics processing units.

PubMed

Rath, N; Kato, S; Levesque, J P; Mauel, M E; Navratil, G A; Peng, Q

2014-04-01

Fast, digital signal processing (DSP) has many applications. Typical hardware options for performing DSP are field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integrated DSP chips, or general purpose personal computer systems. This paper presents a novel DSP platform that has been developed for feedback control on the HBT-EP tokamak device. The system runs all signal processing exclusively on a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) to achieve real-time performance with latencies below 8 μs. Signals are transferred into and out of the GPU using PCI Express peer-to-peer direct-memory-access transfers without involvement of the central processing unit or host memory. Tests were performed on the feedback control system of the HBT-EP tokamak using forty 16-bit floating point inputs and outputs each and a sampling rate of up to 250 kHz. Signals were digitized by a D-TACQ ACQ196 module, processing done on an NVIDIA GTX 580 GPU programmed in CUDA, and analog output was generated by D-TACQ AO32CPCI modules.

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Part B Permit Application for Production Associated Units at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

This is the RCRA required permit application for Radioactive and Hazardous Waste Management at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant for the following units: Building 9206 Container Storage Unit; Building 9212 Container Storage Unit; Building 9720-12 Container Storage Unit; Cyanide Treatment Unit. All four of these units are associated with the recovery of enriched uranium and other metals from wastes generated during the processing of nuclear materials.

Speaking the right language: the scientific method as a framework for a continuous quality improvement program within academic medical research compliance units.

PubMed

Nolte, Kurt B; Stewart, Douglas M; O'Hair, Kevin C; Gannon, William L; Briggs, Michael S; Barron, A Marie; Pointer, Judy; Larson, Richard S

2008-10-01

The authors developed a novel continuous quality improvement (CQI) process for academic biomedical research compliance administration. A challenge in developing a quality improvement program in a nonbusiness environment is that the terminology and processes are often foreign. Rather than training staff in an existing quality improvement process, the authors opted to develop a novel process based on the scientific method--a paradigm familiar to all team members. The CQI process included our research compliance units. Unit leaders identified problems in compliance administration where a resolution would have a positive impact and which could be resolved or improved with current resources. They then generated testable hypotheses about a change to standard practice expected to improve the problem, and they developed methods and metrics to assess the impact of the change. The CQI process was managed in a "peer review" environment. The program included processes to reduce the incidence of infections in animal colonies, decrease research protocol-approval times, improve compliance and protection of animal and human research subjects, and improve research protocol quality. This novel CQI approach is well suited to the needs and the unique processes of research compliance administration. Using the scientific method as the improvement paradigm fostered acceptance of the project by unit leaders and facilitated the development of specific improvement projects. These quality initiatives will allow us to improve support for investigators while ensuring that compliance standards continue to be met. We believe that our CQI process can readily be used in other academically based offices of research.

Ultra-processed food consumption among infants in primary health care in a city of the metropolitan region of São Paulo, Brazil.

PubMed

Relvas, Gláubia Rocha Barbosa; Buccini, Gabriela Dos Santos; Venancio, Sonia Isoyama

2018-06-08

To analyze the prevalence of ultra-processed food intake among children under one year of age and to identify associated factors. A cross-sectional design was employed. We interviewed 198 mothers of children aged between 6 and 12 months in primary healthcare units located in a city of the metropolitan region of São Paulo, Brazil. Specific foods consumed in the previous 24h of the interview were considered to evaluate the consumption of ultra-processed foods. Variables related to mothers' and children's characteristics as well as primary healthcare units were grouped into three blocks of increasingly proximal influence on the outcome. A Poisson regression analysis was performed following a statistical hierarchical modeling to determine factors associated with ultra-processed food intake. The prevalence of ultra-processed food intake was 43.1%. Infants that were not being breastfed had a higher prevalence of ultra-processed food intake but no statistical significance was found. Lower maternal education (prevalence ratio 1.55 [1.08-2.24]) and the child's first appointment at the primary healthcare unit having happened after the first week of life (prevalence ratio 1.51 [1.01-2.27]) were factors associated with the consumption of ultra-processed foods. High consumption of ultra-processed foods among children under 1 year of age was found. Both maternal socioeconomic status and time until the child's first appointment at the primary healthcare unit were associated with the prevalence of ultra-processed food intake. Copyright © 2018 Sociedade Brasileira de Pediatria. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

78 FR 79006 - Certain Paper Shredders, Certain Processes for Manufacturing or Relating to Same and Certain...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-12-27

... investigation named as respondents New United Co. Group Ltd.; Jiangsu New United Office Equipments Co. Ltd.; Shenzhen Elite Business Office Equipment Co. Ltd.; Elite Business Machines Ltd.; New United Office Equipment USA, Inc.; Jiangsu Shinri Machinery Co. Ltd. (collectively, the ``New United'' respondents); and...

Soil Formation and Distribution in Missouri. Instructional Unit. Conservation Education Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Castillon, David A.

This unit is designed to help vocational agriculture teachers incorporate information on soil formation and the soils geography of Missouri into their curriculum. The unit consists of: (1) a topic outline; (2) general unit objectives; (3) discussions of processes and factors of soil formation, the soils geography of Missouri, and some soil…

Combustion Power Unit--400: CPU-400.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Combustion Power Co., Palo Alto, CA.

Aerospace technology may have led to a unique basic unit for processing solid wastes and controlling pollution. The Combustion Power Unit--400 (CPU-400) is designed as a turboelectric generator plant that will use municipal solid wastes as fuel. The baseline configuration is a modular unit that is designed to utilize 400 tons of refuse per day…

Oaks, Acorns, Climate and Squirrels, An Environmental Investigation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Wildlife Federation, Washington, DC.

This environmental unit is one of a series designed for integration within an existing curriculum. The unit is self-contained and requires minimal teacher preparation. The philosophy of the units is based on an experience-oriented process that encourages self-paced independent student work. In this particular unit, oaks and acorns are the vehicle…

40 CFR 63.1360 - Applicability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... vessel and does not have an intervening storage vessel. If two or more PAI process units have the same.... If two or more PAI process units have the same input to or output from the storage vessel in the tank... hours during the calendar year. (e) Applicability of this subpart except during periods of startup...

40 CFR 63.480 - Applicability and designation of affected sources.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... same maximum annual design capacity on a mass basis for two or more products, and if one of those... period, applicability shall be determined in accordance with paragraph (f)(2) of this section. (A) If the... five year period for existing process units, or the specified one year period for new process units...

40 CFR 63.480 - Applicability and designation of affected sources.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... same maximum annual design capacity on a mass basis for two or more products, and if one of those... period, applicability shall be determined in accordance with paragraph (f)(2) of this section. (A) If the... five year period for existing process units, or the specified one year period for new process units...